Industrial Organizations Overestimate Remote Access Security: Findings of a New Global Report

[Ahmet Ö.]

## Industrial Organizations Overestimate Remote Access Security: Findings from a New Global Report

The report "The State of Industrial Remote Access 2026" reveals rising vendor risks, visibility gaps, and an accelerating shift towards unified OT access platforms.

### Report Highlights

As we enter 2026, industrial organizations are approaching their remote access security postures with increasing confidence. However, a global study indicates that this confidence often doesn't align with operational realities. Based on survey results involving senior leaders from 400 manufacturing and critical infrastructure sectors, the report shows that most organizations rate their session visibility and regulatory compliance as "good."

In-depth analyses, however, reveal significant structural gaps in vendor auditing, credential hygiene, and auditability. The report emphasizes a growing "trust-evidence gap" in industrial cybersecurity. While compliance confidence rapidly increases with moderate visibility, full vendor session auditing is rarely achieved.

### Key Findings

- Vendor Access as a Primary Risk Multiplier: As vendor ecosystems expand, incident risks sharply increase. Organizations managing 21-100 external vendors are noted to have the highest risk level. Risk intensifies where vendor session visibility is partial and credentials are rarely reviewed. According to the report, risk primarily stems not from vendor behavior, but from how organizations structure and manage vendor access.

- Partial Vendor Visibility is the Global Norm: Only 43% of organizations report full audit trails of vendor sessions. The majority operate with partial visibility, creating blind spots in compliance and forensic processes. The absence of vendor visibility is correlated with universal incident exposure.

- Zero Trust Approach Delivers Measurable Impact: The depth of Zero Trust principles shows a clear correlation with high session visibility, improved vendor auditability, faster access provisioning, and reduced variability of incidents. Organizations implementing five core Zero Trust principles achieve levels of visibility that cannot be provided by tools alone.

- Governance and IT/OT Alignment Predict Success: Approximately 70% of organizations operate with common IT/OT governance models, a structure that provides the most consistent results in terms of balanced security, operational speed, and auditability. When alignment weakens, the risk of vendor-induced incidents triples.

- Tool Fragmentation Erodes Control: Most organizations use multiple parallel access tools such as VPNs, OEM tools, PAM solutions, and evolving OT-specific platforms. As tool stack complexity increases, session visibility significantly decreases. Organizations using three or more remote access tools report lower visibility and higher friction compared to those operating in consolidated environments.

- Consolidation is Accelerating: Data indicates a clear market shift towards identity-centric, unified OT remote access platforms. Organizations using OT-specific platforms report higher average session visibility, robust full audit trails, lower incident risk, faster vendor access, and stronger IT/OT alignment.

### Structural Shift in Industrial Remote Access

Remote access has evolved from a practical tool into a strategic control surface for industrial operations. With increasing regulatory pressures and expanding vendor ecosystems, the industry is moving towards:

• Federated vendor control models
• Joint IT/OT governance
• Identity-based access applications
• Time-limited, session-based permissions
• Unified auditability

The report states that this process represents a transition from fragmented and reactive access models to standardized, secure, and policy-driven remote operations.

### About the Report

"The State of Industrial Remote Access 2026" report is based on a global study involving 400 OT, IT, compliance, and executive leaders in the manufacturing and critical infrastructure sectors. The study examines architectural models, governance structures, vendor access practices, Zero Trust adoption, regulatory compliance, and operational performance indicators.

### About Secomea

Secomea offers a Secure Remote Access (SRA) solution specifically developed for industrial networks and OT equipment. Over 8,000 customers worldwide trust Secomea to provide secure access to their machines, prevent downtime, and enhance cybersecurity. For over 15 years, Secomea has provided manufacturers and machine builders with simple and scalable solutions that combine IT/OT requirements, ensuring visibility, compliance, and control.