Nozomi Networks and Sophos have partnered to integrate their operational technology (OT) and IT security platforms, aiming to close visibility gaps between industrial and enterprise networks as threats increasingly cross both environments.

The integration connects Nozomi Networks Vantage, its cloud-native, AI-enabled OT security platform, with Sophos Fusion, Sophos’ AI-native cybersecurity defence system. It is one of the first major third-party technology integrations since Sophos Fusion’s launch, bringing Nozomi’s OT telemetry, asset intelligence and threat data directly into Fusion so it can be correlated with IT security data without requiring analysts to switch consoles.

Closing a blind spot between IT and OT

Critical infrastructure operators are facing an increasingly aggressive threat landscape, with both nation-state actors and cybercriminals targeting OT and industrial environments. Many OT outages begin with a compromise in the IT environment, a risk that grows as organisations connect more industrial assets and adopt remote management capabilities.

“The intersection of IT and OT environments has long been misunderstood by the cybersecurity industry, leading to inefficiencies and potential danger for critical infrastructure. This partnership helps solve these problems by seamlessly integrating OT intelligence into IT security investigations so teams have the full picture when assessing their increasingly expanding attack surface,” said Matt Cowell, Vice President of Strategic Alliances, Nozomi Networks.

• Security data correlation across OT, endpoint, network, cloud and identity sources
• Improved investigation quality through richer context and correlation
• Greater SOC efficiency through fewer manual processes and less console switching
• Automated enrichment and response through SOAR workflows

Part of a push toward an open security ecosystem

“Defenders need every resource they can to combat sophisticated threat actors. This partnership helps security teams easily assess OT and IT vulnerabilities in one place, allowing them to take action much faster. Following the launch of Sophos Fusion, this is a testament to our commitment to bring best-of-breed security technologies into a single defense system for superior threat detection, investigation, and response,” said Chris Bell, SVP of Global Channel and Alliances, Sophos.

The integration comes as more organisations connect previously air-gapped OT systems to corporate networks and cloud services, expanding the attack surface for both nation-state and criminal threat actors targeting critical infrastructure sectors such as manufacturing, energy and utilities. Sophos said it defends more than 625,000 organisations worldwide through Fusion.