// OT/IT AND PHYSICAL SECURITY CONVERGENCE · HANS STUDY · ONTARIO, CANADA
OT/IT and Physical Security Convergence
Operational technology, IT, and physical security used to live in separate buildings with separate teams and separate networks. They don't anymore. The access control head-end talks to the corporate domain. The cameras sit on a VLAN somebody promised to segment 3 years ago. Convergence already happened. The question is whether anyone secured it on the way.
This is the part of the work that's hardest to hire for, because it needs someone who reads both sides. A network engineer who's never commissioned a Genetec system, and a security integrator who's never hardened a switch, will each miss the same things. I've done both, for 2 decades, across federal, defence, public safety, and critical-infrastructure environments.
Where the exposure hides
- Physical security systems, cameras, access control, and intercoms, sitting on flat or poorly segmented networks with default credentials and firmware nobody patches
- OT and building systems bridged to the business LAN without a documented reason or a controlled path
- Identity and access that stops at the IT boundary and never reaches the people who can physically open a door or pull a drive
- Monitoring that watches the servers and ignores the 200 networked devices bolted to the walls
What an engagement covers
A convergence security assessment maps the real boundaries between your physical, OT, and IT environments and finds the places they leak into each other. You get network segmentation analysis across the security systems, a review of your access control and video infrastructure, an honest read on the state of your OT/IT boundary, and a ranked remediation plan. Where it helps, I'll bring zero-trust principles into the OT side in a way that respects how industrial systems actually operate, instead of breaking them in the name of security.
The platforms I work in include Genetec, C-CURE, Avigilon, Milestone, and Axis on the physical side, and Cisco, Aruba, Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Juniper on the network side. Vendor-agnostic across all of it.
Related advisory areas
Security Leadership, Advisory, and Strategy →
The hub for fractional CISO, strategy, compliance, and convergence work.
Security Consulting and Assessments →
Independent assessments, architecture, hardening, and project oversight.
CMMC and CPCSC Readiness →
Defence supply chain compliance, often the framework wrapped around a converged environment.
Assessed by someone who reads both sides
Email contact@hans.study to scope a convergence assessment.
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