Operational Technology (OT) environments are increasingly under pressure from evolving cyber threats. With digital transformation accelerating across industries, the need for comprehensive visibility into all connected assets is more important than ever. According to the 2022 OT/ICS Cybersecurity Survey by SANS Institute, nearly 40% of industrial organizations reported lacking a complete inventory of OT assets—highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive cyber asset visibility. These blind spots are not just inefficiencies—they are potential entry points for attackers.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) offers a powerful way to discover, monitor, and secure these assets. This blog explores how XDR security overcomes the limitations of traditional network asset discovery methods and how Fidelis Elevate® delivers a complete solution tailored to OT needs.
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The Challenges of Traditional OT Asset Discovery
1. Incomplete Visibility from Network Monitoring
Traditional tools often rely solely on network traffic to identify connected assets. This approach can miss devices that are not actively communicating or those that use non-standard protocols. In an OT environment, where many devices operate intermittently or remain passive, this results in an incomplete inventory.
For example, network monitoring tools may not distinguish between different operating systems or detect critical firmware versions. As a result, vulnerabilities go unnoticed, and security teams are left blind to real risks.
2. Legacy Systems and Siloed Protocols
Many OT environments include legacy systems designed for isolation, not connectivity. These systems use proprietary communication protocols that most IT tools can’t interpret. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems often vary widely in age and functionality, further complicating discovery.
The result is a fragmented security landscape where different teams handle separate components without a cohesive understanding of the environment.
3. Risks of Intrusive Scanning
Unlike IT environments, where active scanning is standard practice, OT systems cannot tolerate disruption. Many OT assets run critical processes that must remain online 24/7. Active scanning can overload devices, disrupt communication, or even crash essential operations. Low bandwidth and remote environments face additional constraints.
This creates a dilemma: how to achieve full cyber asset visibility without compromising performance or safety?
How XDR Solves the Visibility Gap?
Fidelis Elevate® offers an XDR approach purpose built for OT environments. Instead of relying on a single data source or method, XDR integrates multiple telemetry streams, delivering a more comprehensive and accurate view.
1. Agentless, Non-Intrusive Discovery
Fidelis XDR security uses passive techniques to monitor network traffic without interrupting operations. It also supports safe active queries that use native device protocols to collect detailed information about connected assets. This hybrid approach identifies both active and dormant assets, including:
Firmware versions
Installed software
Communication ports
User configurations
No agents or software installations are required, making deployment simple and non-disruptive.
2. Cross-Domain Correlation
XDR goes beyond simple network asset discovery. It correlates data across endpoints, network traffic, user activity, and external threat intelligence. This provides full context for each asset:
Where it is located
How it communicates
What role it plays in operations
What vulnerabilities it introduces
By breaking down silos, XDR gives teams a single source of truth to guide detection and response.
3. Rogue Device Detection and Behavior Analysis
Unauthorized devices present serious risks in OT networks. Fidelis Elevate® continuously monitors for unexpected connections, using behavioral analytics to flag anomalies. Machine learning establishes baseline behavior patterns and highlights deviations that may indicate compromise.
This proactive detection ensures rogue devices don’t slip through unnoticed, while also catching legitimate devices that may have been compromised.
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Five Key Steps to Achieving Full OT Asset Visibility with XDR
Step 1: Passive and Active Scanning
Passive discovery captures traffic data from switches and network taps, identifying devices based on communication behavior. To supplement this, safe active queries use vendor-approved protocols to extract deeper details from silent or intermittent assets.
Step 2: Network Topology Mapping
XDR maps out physical and logical connections between devices. This includes data flows, communication frequency, and directional traffic patterns. With this information, security teams can:
Understand how threats move laterally Isolate compromised segments Improve segmentation strategies
Step 3: Integration of Multi-Source Telemetry
A robust asset inventory requires inputs from multiple sources. Fidelis Elevate® ingests telemetry from:
Switches and routers Endpoints and control panels Configuration files Industrial project documentation
These inputs are normalized and correlated to paint a complete picture of your OT landscape.
Step 4: Machine Learning-Based Anomaly Detection
Once a baseline is established, machine learning models monitor for deviations. These include:
Unusual device communication Unexpected user logins Configuration drift
This allows detection of sophisticated, multi-step attacks that traditional tools might miss.
Step 5: OT-Safe Response and Containment
Fidelis Elevate® enables context-aware, automated response actions that do not disrupt industrial processes. These include:
Blocking suspicious communication Isolating compromised assets Alerting human analysts based on asset criticality
All responses align with the MITRE ATT&CK for ICS framework, ensuring industry-standard practices.
Overcoming OT-Specific Challenges with Fidelis Elevate®
OT environments bring their own set of security headaches that standard IT solutions simply can’t handle. Fidelis Elevate® tackles these industrial challenges head-on with capabilities built specifically for operational technology.
Handling legacy firmware and unsupported OS
Legacy systems are like that old factory equipment that just won’t quit—they keep running, but they’re security nightmares. Many operational systems run on outdated software that hasn’t seen a security update in years, sometimes decades. These systems become major vulnerability points, often going without patches because updating them could shut down critical operations.
Fidelis Elevate® addresses this through non-intrusive discovery methods that safely identify legacy software other tools miss completely. You can see exactly what unsupported operating systems are running in your environment without disrupting operations. This visibility into your technical debt shows you where the real risks hide.
Minimizing operational risk during response
OT response is nothing like IT response. When a threat hits your industrial network, you can’t just isolate systems without considering what shuts down in the process. Safety comes first, operations second, and traditional security responses often ignore both.
Fidelis Elevate® implements OT-safe response capabilities that contain threats without stopping production. The platform runs automated playbooks that follow your incident response procedures while ensuring network isolation doesn’t interrupt critical functions. When malicious content needs removal, Fidelis Elevate® handles it automatically without compromising operational integrity.
Continuous inventory across distributed OT and IT networks
Keeping track of assets across sprawling industrial networks feels like trying to count moving targets. Traditional asset management falls apart when dealing with distributed environments where devices come online sporadically or run in isolated segments.
Fidelis Elevate® provides real-time inventory with risk profiling for both managed and unmanaged assets. The platform monitors containerized workloads that traditional solutions miss entirely. This continuous monitoring creates a unified view that bridges your IT and OT domains, giving you one complete picture instead of fragmented snapshots.
Asset prioritization based on risk, behavior, and business impact
Not all assets deserve the same attention during a security incident. The question becomes: which threats actually matter to your business operations?
Fidelis Elevate® enables contextual understanding through complete asset classification that weighs business value and criticality. Security teams can focus resources on threats to critical assets rather than chasing low-priority alerts. The platform analyzes vulnerability data alongside behavioral indicators, creating risk profiles that reflect real business impact rather than just technical severity scores.
Here’s what sets Fidelis Elevate® apart for OT security:
Your industrial environment demands specialized protection that understands operational constraints while delivering comprehensive security coverage.
Identify and neutralize threats faster
Gain full visibility across your attack surface
Automate security operations for efficiency
Conclusion: From Partial Visibility to Full Control
Operational environments are more connected than ever, and that connectivity comes with risk. Traditional tools can’t keep up with the complexity and sensitivity of OT systems. Without a full picture of what’s on your network, you’re defending in the dark.
Fidelis Elevate® brings light to that darkness. By combining non-intrusive discovery, machine learning, and smart response workflows, it gives you complete awareness without compromising operations.
The journey from blind spots to full visibility starts with understanding your environment. With Fidelis Elevate®, that understanding becomes actionable, empowering your team to detect, investigate, and respond before threats do damage.
In today’s threat landscape, you can’t protect what you can’t see. XDR with Fidelis Elevate® ensures you never miss what matters most.
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