OT Patching vs IT Patching: What's Commonly Misunderstood

Most cybersecurity teams treat patching like a universal fix. In manufacturing, that assumption can take down a production line, trigger a safety event, or void the warranty on a $2 million piece of equipment.

In this episode, Dino Busalachi and Craig Duckworth break down why patching in operational technology environments is a fundamentally different problem than patching enterprise IT — and why closing that gap requires more than just pushing an update.

The bottom line: A firewall is not a patching strategy. Neither is hoping your systems are isolated. Organizations that get this right use risk-based prioritization, lab testing, virtual patching, and real collaboration between IT and OT teams.

If you are responsible for a plant floor — or for the people who are — this conversation is for you.

🎙️ Industrial Cybersecurity Insider is where C-suite leaders, plant managers, engineers, and security teams come to close the gap between IT and OT.

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Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Why assessing OT cybersecurity posture and asset visibility is hard
• (00:01:00) IT patches constantly, OT rarely does, and why that gap matters
• (00:03:00) Downtime costs: a broken patch in OT can stop the entire plant
• (00:05:00) OEM “don’t touch it” policies and warranty pressure
• (00:08:00) M&A due diligence: buying plants without knowing the cyber condition
• (00:09:00) CrowdStrike outage example and why agent-based tools are risky in OT
• (00:10:00) Virtual patching: protecting PLCs and legacy assets you cannot patch
• (00:14:00) Vendor guidance, upgrade rewrites, and “acceptable risk” decisions
• (00:17:00) Hidden exposure: guest Wi‑Fi, tablets, remote access, and “air gaps”
• (00:20:00) Best practices: inventory, continuous monitoring, vulnerability metrics, and cross-team alignment

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

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