CSC News Table of Contents
The OT Cybersecurity Partnership between Xona and Radiflow sets a new benchmark for protecting critical infrastructure and supporting MSSPs.
This OT Cybersecurity Partnership blends risk-based industrial visibility with secure remote operations to help operators reduce exposure and respond faster.
OT Cybersecurity Partnership: Key Takeaway
- The OT Cybersecurity Partnership delivers risk-aware remote access and continuous visibility for faster mitigation across critical sites.
Why the Xona–Radiflow alliance matters to operators and MSSPs
Industrial networks face relentless pressure from adversaries targeting energy, water, transportation, and manufacturing environments.
Recent campaigns against energy providers underscore how fragile industrial operations can be without layered defenses, as seen in the mounting activity tied to Russian groups against energy assets across the region.
Against this backdrop, the OT Cybersecurity Partnership positions teams to pair granular remote access controls with live risk insights drawn from the plant floor.
MSSPs also gain from the OT Cybersecurity Partnership. It lets service providers rationalize toolsets, shrink dwell time, and prove measurable risk reduction to clients.
The fusion of access orchestration and network risk modeling supports scalable service catalogs for critical industries that need consistent outcomes every day.
How the platforms complement each other
Xona is known for secure industrial access that applies Zero Trust principles to an operational context. It supports browser-based sessions for RDP and SSH, isolates protocols, enforces multi-factor authentication, and records sessions for investigations.
Within the OT Cybersecurity Partnership, these controls become responsive to live conditions in the plant.
Radiflow brings deep OT visibility, asset discovery, and risk modeling. Its tools map industrial assets, simulate attack paths, and prioritize mitigation by impact on safety and uptime.
Inside the OT Cybersecurity Partnership, these insights inform who can access what, when, and under which constraints.
Together, the OT Cybersecurity Partnership turns continuous risk assessment into dynamic access policy. If risk rises on a production line, remote access can tighten or require more verification before a contractor signs in.
According to the original article, the joint approach is designed to reduce mean time to detect and mitigate while keeping maintenance tasks moving safely.
Practical tools to operationalize the strategy
Many operators pair core platforms with targeted tools that reinforce the same principles. For network monitoring at scale, consider a cloud-managed approach like Auvik to visualize topology and performance changes across sites.
For attack exposure management and vulnerability assessment, tools such as Tenable Nessus and Tenable One can help MSSPs prioritize remediation by business impact.
Strong credential hygiene remains central to any OT Cybersecurity Partnership, so adopting secure vaults like 1Password or shared team options such as Passpack reduces the risk of credential misuse.
Resilience depends on backups and secure collaboration. OT environments benefit from encrypted offsite backups through IDrive, while maintenance teams can exchange documentation through end-to-end encrypted storage like Tresorit Business, with alternatives such as Tresorit Professional and Tresorit Enterprise for different scales.
The same risk-driven mindset behind the OT Cybersecurity Partnership extends to email authentication using EasyDMARC, which helps block spoofing and phishing that often precede OT intrusions.
Resilience beyond the core stack
Broader operational readiness matters. Manufacturing firms modernizing planning to reduce downtime can explore MRPeasy. Field teams benefit from structured feedback loops with tools like Zonka Feedback to spot process gaps.
Privacy exposure of executives and engineers can be reduced using data removal services such as Optery. Security awareness remains a pillar, and platforms like CyberUpgrade can level up workforce readiness.
When teams must travel between plants, coordination through Bolt Business can streamline logistics while maintaining policy oversight.
For specialized testing, procurement through vetted marketplaces such as GetTrusted helps source penetration testing aligned with industrial realities.
Governance and standards alignment
A strong OT Cybersecurity Partnership should align with recognized guidance. The NIST Guide to Industrial Control Systems Security offers a blueprint for segmentation, least privilege, and incident response in plants and substations.
Teams can review NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 3 to baseline controls and maturity models here. For sector advisories and proactive alerts, the CISA ICS portal remains a primary source of actionable guidance and advisories on vulnerabilities across ICS and SCADA.
This alignment ensures the OT Cybersecurity Partnership complements broader compliance, safety, and resilience goals.
Implications for critical infrastructure security
The immediate benefit of the OT Cybersecurity Partnership is a unified view of risk that influences access in real time. Operators no longer need to stitch together static roles and blind approval flows.
Instead, access can be programmatic and responsive to the changing risk picture in the control network. That reduces manual errors, shortens time to mitigate, and protects uptime when incidents emerge at awkward hours.
There are also tradeoffs. Any OT Cybersecurity Partnership will introduce change management demands as workflows and approvals evolve. Integration must be staged to avoid disrupting maintenance windows.
Remote access still requires hardened perimeters, especially as attackers continue to exploit edge services like VPNs and firewalls, as highlighted by recent issues in Ivanti VPN and Palo Alto Networks firewalls.
Vulnerability backlogs on IT-OT gateways also remain a factor, with routine additions like newly exploited CVEs reminding teams to keep patch planning active even when production cannot stop.
The broader threat landscape reinforces why a modern strategy is essential. From ransomware events that disrupt production lines, such as the incident affecting a major engineering firm, to nation-state probes against energy assets, the case for a coordinated, risk-driven approach has never been stronger.
The OT Cybersecurity Partnership recognizes that reality and helps close the loop between detection and control.
Conclusion
The OT Cybersecurity Partnership between Xona and Radiflow gives operators and MSSPs a practical way to tie remote access to real-time risk insights. That helps maintenance proceed safely while shrinking the window for attackers.
If you are modernizing your industrial security program, align adoption with NIST and CISA guidance and phase integrations around maintenance windows. With careful rollout, the OT Cybersecurity Partnership can reduce risk without slowing operations.
FAQs
What problem does the alliance solve?
- It connects risk visibility with access control so teams can make smarter, faster decisions about who can do what inside the plant.
How does it help MSSPs?
- Providers can standardize delivery, prove outcomes, and scale services by building on an OT Cybersecurity Partnership that adapts to each client’s risk.
Will it replace existing tools?
- No. It unifies and enhances them by turning live risk into policy. It sits alongside detection, response, and asset management tools.
Does it work for legacy systems?
- Yes, the approach can wrap legacy assets with compensating controls and risk-based access while planning long-term upgrades.
How does it address VPN risks?
- It reduces reliance on flat VPN access with session isolation, MFA, and risk-aware approvals that respond to current conditions.
What sectors benefit most?
- Energy, water, manufacturing, and transportation benefit because they balance uptime, safety, and compliance under active threats.
Why emphasize governance?
- Standards guide measurable progress and help ensure the OT Cybersecurity Partnership supports safety and regulatory needs.
About Xona
Xona provides secure industrial access built for operators, engineers, and contractors who support mission-critical systems. Its platform delivers browser-based access to protocols such as RDP and SSH, layered with multi-factor authentication, session recording, and protocol isolation to protect control networks from lateral movement.
Designed for industrial environments, Xona emphasizes usability for maintenance teams without sacrificing security. Within an OT Cybersecurity Partnership, these capabilities become dynamic and responsive to risk, allowing organizations to maintain uptime while enforcing least privilege and detailed oversight.
About Radiflow
Radiflow focuses on OT asset visibility, risk analytics, and continuous assessment for industrial networks. Its technology maps assets, models attack paths, and translates technical exposures into business impact so teams can prioritize the fixes that matter most to safety and availability.
The company’s approach helps operators and MSSPs track risk over time and simulate improvements before they are deployed. As part of an OT Cybersecurity Partnership, Radiflow’s analytics can drive context-aware controls that adapt as conditions change across plants and substations.
Biography: Ilan Barda
Ilan Barda is the founder and chief executive of Radiflow and a long-time leader in industrial cybersecurity.
With a background in telecommunications security and network technologies, he established Radiflow to address the unique challenges of protecting industrial control systems and critical infrastructure.
Under his leadership, Radiflow has advanced OT risk modeling and asset visibility for complex environments.
Barda is known for championing pragmatic solutions that balance safety, uptime, and security in plants and utilities, a philosophy reflected in partnerships that connect detection with access control to accelerate risk reduction.
Further context and resources
Security programs are more effective when connected to real-world events and lessons learned. Energy sector threats continue to evolve, as seen in recent reports of attacks targeting energy providers.
Remote access and edge devices demand continuous hardening given recent exposure in products like Ivanti and Palo Alto Networks. Teams can reference NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 3 here and CISA ICS advisories here for implementation guidance.
