If you manage an OT network, you already know the stakes. The moment one device is compromised, the intruder can often see everything. That’s why ransomware spreads so quickly in industrial environments—and why so many attacks end in full network shutdowns instead of isolated events.
Organizations talk about segmentation. They believe they’ve deployed segmentation. Surveys even show over 90 percent claim to have it. But when the breach finally hits, the results tell a different story.
Too many OT networks are segmented on paper, not in reality.
And now the threat landscape has changed again. AI is accelerating cyberattacks, performing reconnaissance at speeds and thoroughness no human adversary could match. Attackers don’t need expertise anymore. They need only a prompt.
If you’re still relying on legacy firewall and VLAN segmentation methods designed for predictable enterprise networks, your OT environment is already behind.
This is the moment to rethink what defensible architecture actually means—and why microsegmentation is no longer optional.
The newest class of attacks is not just automated—it’s intelligent.
Recent high-profile breaches showed that up to 80–90 percent of the attack chain was executed by AI systems trained to:
This is not theoretical. It is already happening.
Zero Trust requires us to assume breach. But the real challenge is this:
Once an attacker—human or AI—gets inside, how far can they go?
In most OT networks today, the realistic answer is: everywhere.
If segmentation is so widely adopted, why are ransomware and disruptive attacks still taking down entire industrial networks?
Because the traditional methods are fundamentally flawed for OT.
To get segmentation right with firewalls, you need:
Most OT environments simply can’t tolerate this. The result?
Over-permissive “any-to-any” firewall rules that quietly defeat the entire design.
I’ve seen networks with hundreds of segmentation rules… all invalidated by a single broad rule inserted because an engineer couldn’t get a device to communicate during a maintenance window.
Complexity is the enemy of security.
PLCs, HMIs, historians, and real-time controllers often span multiple conduits across multiple locations. A single PLC may need to talk to:
Layer 3 firewalls were never designed for this dynamic, cross-site, industrial-to-industrial communication pattern.
If your segmentation plan requires changing IP ranges on legacy controllers, it simply will not be deployed.
Not because the team doesn’t want segmentation—but because production cannot tolerate the downtime, risk, and validation required to readdress critical devices.
If it requires readdressing, it will be shelved.
Protecting an OT network means defending against attacks from every angle:
Segmentation isn't only about stopping attackers from coming in. It's about stopping them from moving once they are already inside.
To accomplish this, you need microsegmentation that is identity-based, location-agnostic, and impossible to bypass through misconfiguration.
That’s where BlastWave takes a different approach.
Instead of forcing you to redesign your network or rewrite your IP plans, BlastWave creates a secure overlay that:
With BlastWave’s BlastShield:
Location becomes irrelevant.
A PLC in Texas can securely communicate with a historian in Ohio without ever exposing itself to the internet or the underlay network.
Identity becomes the segmentation boundary.
Users and devices inherit access rights based on the role group they’re assigned to. No manual ACLs. No managing hundreds of firewall rules.
East–West movement is eliminated by default.
A compromised PLC cannot ping, scan, or infect another PLC—even on the same subnet—unless policy explicitly allows it.
Ransomware cannot spread unchecked.
If a maintenance worker plugs in a compromised USB drive and infects one device, that infection dies on the vine.
Cross-site segmentation is native, not bolted on.
The overlay simply spans sites, without requiring Layer 3 rework or downtime.
This is what segmentation should have been all along.
With firewalls:
You modify rules, ACLs, VLANs, and hope you didn’t break something.
With BlastWave:
You import the device, assign it to a group, and it instantly inherits all segmentation and access policies.
No risk. No guesswork. No firewall puzzles.
One of our customers segmented 20,000 OT devices in under a month using this method.
Yes—when ransomware relies on lateral movement or protocol misuse.
If ransomware needs to:
Microsegmentation stops it cold.
The only scenario where policy cannot block the attack is when the ransomware uses a fully valid, allowed protocol and command from a compromised engineering workstation or SCADA host. That is where behavioral monitoring tools like Dragos or Claroty complement the architecture.
Segmentation is foundational. Monitoring is additive. You need both.
If your OT network relies on traditional VLAN and firewall segmentation, you are exposed. Not because your team is unskilled. Not because you haven’t invested in security.
But because the tools you were given were not designed for modern OT threats—or AI-accelerated attack patterns.
Microsegmentation, identity-based access, and network cloaking cannot be afterthoughts anymore. They must be the core of your OT security architecture.
This is precisely what BlastWave was built to deliver: a complete, simplified, defensible OT architecture that assumes breach—and limits it to a single device.
And that is the only sustainable model moving forward.
If you want to see how this works in a live environment, you can schedule a demo directly:
Schedule a Demo:
https://www.blastwave.com/schedule-a-demo
You can also watch our full educational series on OT defensible architecture here:
Watch the Full OT Architecture Series:
https://www.blastwave.com/blog/building-a-simplified-defensible-ot-architecture-blastwaves-educational-webinar-series-for-cisa-cybersecurity-awareness-month
Q: Why can’t traditional firewalls deliver true microsegmentation for OT?
A: They weren’t designed for multi-site industrial environments with controllers that communicate across conduits, locations, and vendors. Firewall rule sets become too complex, and teams inevitably introduce “allow all” rules that collapse segmentation.
Q: Does BlastWave require downtime?
A: No. Because IP addresses and underlying network architecture remain untouched, deployment can happen with minimal to zero operational interruption.
Q: Can this prevent AI-driven cyberattacks?
A: Yes. Cloaking blocks reconnaissance, identity-based access blocks credential misuse, and microsegmentation stops lateral movement—three areas where AI-accelerated attacks excel.
Q: Do I need to replace my switches?
A: You only need switches with a basic port-isolation mode. These cost under $200 and are widely available.
Q: What if I have duplicate IP ranges across sites?
A: BlastWave’s overlay makes this irrelevant. Devices communicate using overlay identities, not underlay IPs.
Q: Will this work for remote access and vendors?
A: Yes. Remote users authenticate into the overlay and receive the least privilege required—no exposure to the broader OT network.
BlastWave makes networks easy to use and hard to hack.
Its platform combines Passwordless Industrial MFA and Software-Defined Microsegmentation to deliver Zero Trust security for complex OT and IT environments — without the cost or complexity of traditional tools.
BlastWave empowers enterprises to protect critical infrastructure, reduce the attack surface, and comply with industrial security standards such as IEC 62443 — all while minimizing downtime and deployment friction.
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