Cognizant and CrowdStrike Unify IT and OT Security Services

The new offering, Cognizant Cybersecurity for Operational Technology, integrates CrowdStrike’s Falcon for XIoT platform with Cognizant’s managed services. This partnership aims to address the vulnerabilities inherent in the Industrial Internet of Things, where traditional security measures often fail to account for the specialized requirements of production and safety systems.

Vishal Salvi, head of cybersecurity at Cognizant, stated that effective protection requires tailoring solutions to a client’s specific operational context. The service employs an engagement model that spans asset discovery, architecture, and governance across six distinct security domains. By providing 24/7 managed operations, the companies intend to secure critical assets without triggering the production downtime that often plagues industrial security updates.

Daniel Bernard, Chief Business Officer at CrowdStrike, noted that the convergence of IT and OT has eliminated the traditional barriers adversaries once encountered. The service is already active within the manufacturing, energy, and critical infrastructure sectors, focusing on threat detection, vulnerability management, and identity protection. By deploying these capabilities, the firms are attempting to modernize security frameworks for organizations currently struggling to defend against cyberattacks on their foundational physical operations.