Identity Security Is the Missing Link To Combatting Advanced OT Threats

The report outlines how living-off-the-land (LotL) techniques and identity compromise enable stealthy intrusion and lateral movement across converged IT/OT environments—especially where legacy OT systems, shared/default accounts, and limited logging exist. Using Volt Typhoon as an example, it emphasizes credential harvesting, native tool abuse (e.g., PowerShell, WMI), and Active Directory weaknesses as core risks. It advocates a holistic approach centered on identity security, least privilege, AD hardening, anomaly monitoring, and unified exposure management, highlighting Tenable One’s capabilities for attack surface visibility, prioritized risk management, breaking security silos, and attack path visualization to protect critical infrastructure.