IT and OT, apart where they must be
In the energy sector office automation and operational technology sit close together, while the security requirements are not the same. We keep the two apart where that is necessary and connect them where it helps, with monitoring that also covers the sites without staff.
Two worlds with two kinds of risk
An office network can be down for an hour. A system that controls something cannot — and those two touch each other more and more often.
On one side sits the office environment: mail, documents, planning, invoicing. The usual requirements apply there — availability, patching, recovery after an outage. On the other side sits operational technology: control, measurement, telemetry. There a system is sometimes ten years old because it has a service life that does not move with a software release, and a restart is not a small intervention but a decision.
The problem appears where those two meet. Data has to move from the operational side into reporting and billing, remote access is needed for maintenance, and there is a supplier in between who wants a connection of their own. Each of those three is a reason to break the separation, and each of those three is exactly the route along which a problem travels from one side to the other.
What we do differently here than in an office environment
We treat the connection as the subject, not as an afterthought. That means network segmentation that is written down and not opened up case by case, remote access that is traceable per person and per session instead of a shared login, and a patching policy that follows a different rhythm on the operational side than on the office side. IEC 62443 is the standard industrial automation suppliers point to; it sets out exactly this separation into zones and conduits.
What we do not do is claim to manage a control system the manufacturer maintains. We manage the IT around it: the network, the workplaces, the access, the monitoring and the recovery. Where the installation supplier keeps their own part, we make sure the agreements about it are written down and that there is one place an outage is reported.
Unstaffed sites
Part of the infrastructure sits in places where nobody works: a substation, a metering cabinet, a remote installation. Nobody notices when something there fails, unless you measure it. Monitoring those sites is therefore not an extra but the only way to know what is standing. We include those points in the same monitoring as the rest, with an alert that lands at the same service desk.
What the regulation asks
Energy falls under NIS2 as a highly critical sector. That means, among other things, documented risk management, a duty to report serious incidents, and demonstrable attention to the security of your supply chain. The responsibility sits with your organisation; we make sure what we manage supports that accountability rather than complicating it. Our own processes are covered by ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 14001 and Kiwa NEN 4400-1.
What we handle in an energy environment
You choose what you need. It all sits under one contract, one report and one point of contact.
- Separation between IT and OTNetwork segmentation that is documented, with connections that are named and do not quietly grow because a project was in a hurry.
- Remote access per personRemote maintenance by suppliers and your own people runs through a traceable session, with multi-factor authentication and a trail afterwards.
- Monitoring of unstaffed sitesSubstations, metering cabinets and remote installations sit in the same monitoring as the rest, with alerts at the same service desk.
- Patching in two rhythmsThe usual rhythm on the office side, and on the operational side a window that moves with the installation and is agreed in advance.
- Backup and recoveryCopies that have demonstrably been restored, with recovery times agreed per system in advance rather than discovered afterwards.
- One place for outagesEven with several suppliers involved: one report, one owner, and written agreements about who picks up what.
How we take over an energy environment
In this order, because on the operational side a surprise during the transition is not an inconvenience but an outage.
Walking the site
In the office and at an installation. An hour walking along shows which connections actually exist, and which of them nobody has on a drawing any more.
Mapping the separation
Which zones exist, which connections run between them, who has remote access and where it comes in. That picture is almost never complete and almost always the starting point.
Agreeing windows and response times
What is critical, what response time belongs to it and when work may be done on which side. That goes into an SLA in plain language, with 24/7 cover where it is needed.
Steering on what we measure
The reporting shows volumes, lead times and recurring causes, per site. Those figures exist to decide where the next intervention pays off most.
The services that come up most here
These building blocks come up most often in an energy environment.
Looking further
Recognise the picture but work in another industry? Have a look at the other sectors.
Tell us where IT and OT touch
Name the connections that exist, the sites without staff and the suppliers watching from a distance. We build the separation, the monitoring and the cover around those.