Industry turns to zero trust

A new study of industrial enterprises shows 72 percent have started adopting zero trust principles, with 38 percent of organizations establishing, implementing, and optimizing zero trust control measures.

The study from Xage and Takepoint Research surveyed over 250 cybersecurity senior leaders across critical infrastructure organizations, energy, utilities, transportation, oil and gas and manufacturing to gauge the current state of zero trust implementation.

"While zero trust is not a one-size-fits-all model, the data shows that organizations are evolving their understanding of zero trust as a strategy to enhance the safety, security, and reliability of both their enterprise IT and OT environments," says Jonathon Gordon, industry analyst at Takepoint Research. "The industrial world is taking action and recognizes the necessity to expedite zero trust adoption to keep our nation’s -- and world's -- critical infrastructure safe from cyberattacks."

Among respondents 78 percent expressed concern or significant concern about data sharing. Ensuring data security and protection against unauthorized access and tampering is the main worry for 55 percent of respondents.

The top three challenges related to securing OT environments are cited as IT/OT integration (77 percent), protecting against ransomware threats (76 percent), and modernizing remote access (55 percent).

The study also finds that industries are embracing transformation at varying speeds. Manufacturing leads the charge, with 90 percent agreeing that integrating IT / OT and digital transformation is a pathway to progress. However, the oil and gas sector is lagging at 35 percent in agreement.

"Amidst market confusion surrounding various zero trust strategies, it is evident that organizations are now diligently navigating through them and honing their approaches," says Sri Sundaralingam, SVP of marketing at Xage. "The survey results underscore the increasing adoption of zero trust across industrial sectors, aimed at mitigating crucial business risks while propelling digital transformation alongside new business initiatives."

The full report is available from the Xage site.

Image credit: Olivier26/depositphotos.com