ABOUT
About OT Cyber Defence
OT Cyber Defence was created with a simple purpose: to make Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control System (ICS) cybersecurity easier to understand, learn, and apply in practice.
The platform focuses on practical OT and ICS security, maritime cybersecurity, industrial networking, OT penetration testing, hands-on lab environments, and lessons drawn from real-world engineering and cybersecurity experience.
Why OT Cyber Defence?
There is a significant knowledge gap between traditional IT cybersecurity and OT cybersecurity.
For someone coming from an IT or cybersecurity background, gaining exposure to PLCs, SCADA systems, industrial networks, field devices, and control systems can be difficult without access to an industrial environment.
Engineers already working in industries face a different challenge. Their facilities may have limited OT connectivity or cybersecurity infrastructure, and experimenting with live industrial systems is rarely practical.
These systems support production and critical processes, where an interruption can affect operations, safety, availability, and the wider supply chain.
This makes practical OT cybersecurity experience particularly difficult to acquire.
Learning OT Cybersecurity Through Labs
One of the objectives of OT Cyber Defence is to help aspiring engineers bridge this gap by building practical OT cybersecurity labs at home.
A lab provides a safe environment to understand how PLCs, SCADA systems, industrial protocols, firewalls, network segmentation, monitoring tools, and other OT technologies work together.
More importantly, it provides an environment where security concepts can be tested without putting a live industrial process at risk.
Through this platform, I aim to document practical lab setups, experiments, attack scenarios, defensive controls, troubleshooting experiences, and the lessons learned while building them.
The idea is not just to explain what an OT cybersecurity concept is, but wherever possible, to demonstratehow it works in practice.
Who Maintains OT Cyber Defence?
OT Cyber Defence is currently maintained by Manoj Chausali.
My professional journey has given me hands-on exposure to industrial electrical and automation systems, the maritime industry, IT infrastructure, and the corporate cybersecurity environment.
I created OT Cyber Defence to bring these experiences together and contribute what I learn to the wider IT/OT cybersecurity community.
Looking Ahead
My long-term goal is for OT Cyber Defence to grow beyond the experience of one person.
As the platform develops, I hope to invite experienced professionals and experts from the OT, ICS, maritime, industrial automation, and cybersecurity communities to review topics and share their perspectives.
There is still a considerable gap between people who understand IT and cybersecurity and those who understand industrial operations and OT.
OT Cyber Defence aims to help bridge that gap through practical learning, engineering context, experimentation, and knowledge sharing.