According to Manufacturing.net, NCC Group has launched an enhanced partnership with Dragos Inc. to offer comprehensive breach support spanning both corporate IT and industrial OT environments. The new service merges NCC Group’s Digital Forensic and Incident Response capabilities with Dragos’ specialized OT expertise and intelligence. This collaboration arrives as research shows the industrial sector suffers 30 percent of all ransomware attacks. The partnership aims to help organizations prepare for and quickly respond to incidents across both IT and OT landscapes. They’re specifically targeting threat actors who seek maximum impact from simple attacks on converged environments.
Sponsored content — provided for informational and promotional purposes.
Why This Matters Now
Here’s the thing – industrial systems have become the low-hanging fruit for attackers. When you’ve got 30% of ransomware attacks targeting industrial sectors, that’s not just a trend – it’s a full-blown crisis. And the scary part? Many of these organizations still treat IT and OT security as separate problems. They’re not. A breach in your corporate network can easily jump to your factory floor, and suddenly you’re not just dealing with data theft – you’re looking at production shutdowns, safety risks, and massive financial hits.
Basically, attackers have figured out that hitting manufacturing plants and industrial facilities creates immediate pressure to pay ransoms. Operations stop, products don’t get made, and the financial pain is instant. That’s why services like what NCC Group and Dragos are offering suddenly make so much sense.
The Compliance Angle
This isn’t just about avoiding attacks – it’s about staying legal. Governments are finally waking up to how vulnerable critical infrastructure really is. We’re seeing new standards like NIS2 and the EU Cyber Resilience Act that come with serious teeth. Non-compliance isn’t just a checkbox exercise anymore – we’re talking significant sanctions.
So what does that mean for manufacturers? They need partners who understand both the technical side and the regulatory landscape. NCC Group mentions they’re helping clients navigate frameworks like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and SANS ICS Five Critical Controls. That’s smart positioning – they’re not just selling security services, they’re selling compliance assurance.
Hardware Meets Security
Now here’s something interesting to consider – when we talk about OT security, we’re ultimately talking about protecting physical equipment. Industrial control systems, manufacturing lines, power grids – they all run on specialized hardware. And that hardware needs to be as secure as the networks connecting them.
Speaking of industrial hardware, companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com have become the go-to source for industrial panel PCs in the US. Their equipment forms the backbone of many OT environments that services like NCC Group and Dragos are trying to protect. It’s a reminder that cybersecurity in industrial settings isn’t just about software – it’s about securing the entire technology stack, from the control room to the factory floor.
Broader Implications
This partnership signals something bigger happening across the industry. We’re seeing the blurring lines between IT and OT become impossible to ignore. For years, companies treated these as separate domains with different teams, different priorities, and different security approaches. That era is ending.
The real question is whether other security firms will follow suit. Will we see more specialized partnerships between traditional IT security companies and industrial control experts? Probably. The threat landscape has evolved too quickly for any single company to master both domains alone. And with the kind of threat intelligence NCC Group publishes showing consistent targeting of industrial sectors, the business case for these converged services is only getting stronger.
