ICS/OT Asset Management

Over the next few emails, we'd like to share a brief educational series on what ICS Asset Management is, why it's critical for your operations, and how each of its core components helps protect your people, your plant, and your bottom line.

Let's start at the beginning.

What is ICS Asset Management?

ICS Asset Management is the practice of identifying, documenting, and continuously managing every hardware and software asset within your Industrial Control Systems/OT environments – from PLCs and HMIs to SCADA servers, communication protocols, and firmware versions.

It means having a complete, always-updated overview of what's installed, how it's configured, the risks it poses, and the maintenance it requires.

Why does it matter?

Most OT networks were designed and built long before cyber threats became part of daily reality. Many plants still track their assets with spreadsheets, handwritten notes, or tribal knowledge held by a few senior engineers.

When those engineers retire – or when an incident strikes – you're left in the dark.

Without a comprehensive asset inventory, it is virtually impossible to assess risk, apply effective defenses, or maintain the operational reliability and safety your plant depends on.

What happens when it's neglected?

Consider a large power plant where the engineering team has managed assets informally for years. One day, a critical controller fails. Nobody can immediately confirm the exact model, firmware version, or configuration. Replacement parts take weeks to source – if at all available. Meanwhile, production is disrupted, safety margins erode, and management faces uncomfortable questions from regulators and stakeholders.

The costs are not just financial. Poor asset visibility affects everything else in the network – from cybersecurity posture to regulatory compliance to your ability to plan proactively rather than react in a crisis.

How Bohemia Market can help

This is exactly what the Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service is designed to solve. It provides a centralised ICS Business Continuity Toolbox – a purpose-built dashboard that gives your team easy access to all relevant information about your Industrial Control Systems/OT environments, including asset details, risks, vulnerabilities, tasks, and compliance status – all in one place.

No more scattered spreadsheets. No more guesswork. Just a clear, living picture of your ICS/OT environment.

Coming up next: In our next email, we'll explore one of the most underestimated threats to power plants across the Middle East – Obsolescence – and why the equipment that "just keeps running" might actually be your biggest risk.

Talk soon,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market

We hope you found our first email helpful. Today, we're tackling a topic that catches many plant operators off guard: Obsolescence.

What is obsolescence?

Obsolescence occurs when ICS/OT components – controllers, HMIs, software, and operating systems – reach end-of-life. The manufacturer no longer produces spare parts, issues patches, or provides technical support. Your equipment may still be running, but it's running on borrowed time.

It's common to find ICS/OT components that have been operational for 15–20 years, still relying on legacy operating systems like Windows XP or even older platforms that no longer receive any security updates.

Why does it matter?

Obsolescence is not just an IT problem – it is a direct operational and safety risk. When a component fails, and its replacement is no longer available, a simple breakdown becomes a crisis.

Rising maintenance costs, longer downtimes, incompatibility with modern technologies, and the inability to integrate with today's automation and analytics tools all compound over time.

In the Middle East's demanding operating environment, where power generation is essential infrastructure, the consequences of an unplanned outage extend well beyond the plant walls.

What happens when it's ignored?

Imagine a power plant that has relied on the same PLC platform for over a decade. The system has been dependable, so there has never been an urgency to plan an upgrade. Then, one day, a critical module fails.

The original manufacturer discontinued the part two years ago. The only option is to source a refurbished unit from an overseas broker – at a premium price and with a lead time of several weeks. During that period, the plant operates at reduced capacity, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost generation.

Worse still, without patches and updates, the obsolete system is exposed to security vulnerabilities that modern threats are designed to exploit.

How Bohemia Market can help

The Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service gives you a clear, continuously updated view of the lifecycle status of every asset in your ICS/OT environment.

This enables your team to identify components approaching end-of-life, plan upgrades proactively, and avoid the costly surprises that come from running outdated equipment until it breaks.

Coming up next: Knowing what you have is the first step. But do you know the risks and vulnerabilities each of those assets carries? That's exactly what we'll cover in our next email.

Best regards,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market

Welcome back. In our previous email, we explored why obsolescence is a hidden threat. Today, we're looking at something closely related but broader: The risks and vulnerabilities that exist across all your ICS/OT assets.

What are asset risks and vulnerabilities?

Every ICS/OT asset – whether it's a PLC, an HMI, a network switch, or a SCADA server – carries specific risks. These may include known software vulnerabilities, insecure default configurations, unpatched firmware, or reliance on outdated communication protocols.

An asset risk and vulnerability assessment involves systematically identifying, evaluating, and documenting these weaknesses across your entire ICS/OT environment.

Why does it matter?

You cannot protect what you don't understand. Without a clear picture of the vulnerabilities in your ICS/OT, your team is essentially defending your plant blindfolded. Security patches go unapplied, misconfigurations go unnoticed, and threats go undetected.

In the power sector, where ICS/OT directly controls generation, transmission, and distribution processes, an exploited vulnerability can cause equipment damage, safety incidents, or service disruptions affecting thousands of people.

What happens when it's ignored?

Consider this real-world scenario: a red-team assessment at an oil and gas refinery found that a critical PLC was running outdated firmware with a known vulnerability and was still using the manufacturer's default credentials.

By exploiting this single weakness, the assessors gained access to the controller and then moved deeper into the facility's ICS/OT network – ultimately reaching safety systems.

Had this been a real attacker rather than a test, the consequences could have included damage to physical equipment, environmental harm, or danger to human life. All because one asset's vulnerabilities were never identified or addressed.

How Bohemia Market can help

The Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service includes dedicated modules for tracking asset risks and vulnerabilities. It automatically generates an easy-to-read risk matrix that presents your team with the current, updated risk situation across your ICS/OT environment – so you always know where attention is needed most.

Coming up next: Once you know your vulnerabilities, the next question is: how do you protect against the people and groups actively trying to exploit them? In our next email, we'll discuss cybersecurity in the ICS/OT context.

Best regards,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market

Good to have you with us again. In our last email, we covered why knowing your asset risks and vulnerabilities is essential. Today, we're addressing the topic that connects it all: ICS/OT cybersecurity.

What is ICS/OT cybersecurity?

ICS/OT cybersecurity refers to the strategies, controls, and practices that protect your Industrial Control Systems from unauthorised access, manipulation, and disruption. It covers everything from network segmentation and access control to intrusion detection, firmware integrity, and incident response planning.

Unlike traditional IT security, ICS/OT cybersecurity must account for systems that cannot easily be taken offline, often running legacy software, and directly control physical processes with real-world safety implications.

Why does it matter?

The threat landscape for industrial control systems and OT environments has changed dramatically. Cyber attacks targeting ICS/OT environments are increasing in both frequency and severity.

Financial losses from ICS/OT incidents have reached hundreds of millions of dollars, and material consequences – halted production, suspended shipments, even business closures – are being reported more frequently than ever.

In the Middle East, where critical infrastructure like power generation is a national priority, governments have responded by establishing robust cybersecurity frameworks.

Saudi Arabia's Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC) include specific OT Cybersecurity Controls (OTCC), and the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman have all introduced national information assurance frameworks with requirements for critical infrastructure operators.

What happens when it's ignored?

In December 2015, attackers used the BlackEnergy malware to compromise the SCADA systems of a Ukrainian power grid. They remotely opened circuit breakers at 30 substations, leaving 230,000 people without electricity for up to six hours. The SCADA equipment was rendered inoperable, and power had to be restored manually.

In 2017, the Triton/Trisis malware targeted safety controllers at a petrochemical plant in the Middle East, attempting to disable the very systems designed to prevent catastrophic failures.

These are not hypothetical scenarios – they are documented events that demonstrate what's at stake.

How Bohemia Market can help

The Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service includes a dedicated cybersecurity module within its ICS Business Continuity Toolbox.

Maintaining a complete, continuously updated asset inventory – with visibility into vulnerabilities, configurations, and risk levels – provides the foundation your team needs to implement effective cybersecurity measures and respond to threats with confidence.

Coming up next: Cybersecurity tools and technologies are only as strong as the processes and procedures behind them. In our next email, we'll explore why documented, repeatable processes are the backbone of ICS/OT protection.

Best regards,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market

Welcome to email five in our series. So far, we've covered asset management, obsolescence, risks and vulnerabilities, and cybersecurity. Today, we're looking at the glue that holds it all together: Processes and procedures.

What are ICS/OT processes and procedures?

In the context of ICS Asset Management, processes and procedures are the documented, repeatable steps that define how your team manages, maintains, and secures every asset in your control systems.

This includes everything from how firmware updates are applied and access permissions are granted to how incidents are reported and changes to the system are approved.

Why do they matter?

Technology alone does not keep a plant safe. Without clear, documented processes, critical tasks are performed inconsistently – or not at all. Knowledge becomes trapped in individuals rather than embedded in the organisation. When key personnel are absent or leave, gaps appear that create real operational and security risks.

In the Middle East, regulatory frameworks increasingly require organisations to demonstrate not just that security controls are in place, but that they are supported by formalised, auditable processes. Saudi Arabia's ECC, for example, mandates documented governance structures, and IEC 62443 – widely adopted across the region – calls for process-driven, lifecycle-focused security programs.

What happens when they're missing?

Picture a power plant where a routine controller update is handled by whichever engineer is available at the time. There is no formal change management process.

One day, an engineer applies a firmware update to a PLC without verifying compatibility with the existing configuration. The update causes a communication failure between the controller and the SCADA system, triggering an unplanned shutdown of a critical process unit.

The root cause? Not the update itself – but the absence of a documented procedure that would have required a compatibility check and a rollback plan before any change was made.

How Bohemia Market can help

The Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service includes a dedicated processes and procedures module that ensures your team has clear, accessible documentation for managing every aspect of your ICS/OT environment.

It connects the right procedures to the right assets – so your team always knows exactly what steps to follow, reducing human error and building organisational resilience.

Coming up next: Processes tell your team what to do. But how do you make sure it actually gets done – on time, every time? That's where tasks come in. We'll cover this in our next email.

Best regards,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market

We're nearing the end of our series, and today's topic bridges the gap between planning and doing: Tasks.

What are ICS/OT tasks?

In ICS/OT Asset Management, tasks are the specific, assignable actions required to keep your control systems secure, maintained, and operational.

These include scheduled maintenance activities, firmware updates, vulnerability patches, inspections, calibrations, backup verifications, and any corrective actions arising from risk assessments.

Why do they matter?

Having well-documented processes is essential – but processes without execution are just paper. Tasks are the mechanism that translates your asset management strategy into daily, weekly, and monthly actions performed by real people, on specific assets, within defined timeframes.

Without a structured task management system, critical maintenance gets delayed, patches go unapplied, and preventive actions are forgotten – often until something goes wrong. In a power plant environment, where hundreds of assets require regular attention, relying on memory or informal tracking is a recipe for missed deadlines and mounting risk.

What happens when tasks fall through the cracks?

Imagine a plant where a quarterly calibration is due on a safety sensor linked to a boiler control system. The task isn't formally tracked – it exists only as a reminder in one engineer's notebook. That engineer goes on leave, and the calibration is missed.

A few weeks later, the sensor provides an inaccurate reading during a pressure surge. The control system doesn't respond correctly. The result: an emergency shutdown, a full safety investigation, and weeks of delayed operations – all because one task slipped through the cracks.

How Bohemia Market can help

The Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service includes a task management module within its ICS Business Continuity Toolbox.

It ensures that every maintenance, security, and compliance task is assigned, tracked, and completed on schedule – giving your team full visibility into what needs to be done, by whom, and by when.

No more reliance on notebooks, spreadsheets, or memory.

Coming up next: In our final email, we'll bring everything together with a topic that's becoming increasingly critical in the Middle East: Standards compliance.

We'll explore what it means, which frameworks apply to your industry, and how to approach compliance with confidence.

Best regards,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market

Welcome to the final email in our ICS/OT Asset Management series. We've covered a lot of ground – from asset visibility and obsolescence to cybersecurity, processes, and task management.

Today, we bring it all together with a topic that underpins everything: Standards compliance.

What is ICS standards compliance?

Standards compliance means aligning your ICS/OT environment with the recognised regulatory frameworks and industry standards that govern how industrial control systems should be managed, secured, and maintained.

For the power sector in the Middle East, the most relevant frameworks include:

• IEC 62443 (ISA/IEC 62443): The leading international standard for industrial automation and control system security, covering governance, system design, component requirements, and lifecycle management.
• Saudi Arabia's Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC) and OT Cybersecurity Controls (OTCC): Mandatory controls covering governance, defence, and ICS/OT -specific security for public and private sector organisations.
• UAE National Information Assurance Framework (NIAF): Tiered security controls required for government entities and critical infrastructure operators, with significant penalties for non-compliance.
• Qatar's National Information Assurance Standard (NIAS): Technical, business, and governance controls applicable to all organisations operating in Qatar, including critical infrastructure.

Why does it matter?

Compliance is not merely a regulatory obligation – it is increasingly a competitive advantage and a condition for doing business. GCC nations are actively strengthening their cybersecurity frameworks, and operators of critical infrastructure are expected to demonstrate measurable alignment with these standards.

Beyond regulation, compliance with standards like IEC 62443 provides a structured, repeatable approach to managing risk – helping organisations prioritise investments, improve resilience, and build confidence with regulators, partners, and stakeholders.

What happens when compliance is neglected?

Consider a mining company in the Middle East that had never viewed its ICS/OT systems as a potential targets.

During an independent assessment, significant cybersecurity gaps were identified, with few protective measures in place. The company had to build its cybersecurity strategy almost from the ground up, investing considerable time and resources to achieve IEC 62443 compliance retroactively.

Now imagine that scenario playing out after a major incident rather than before one – with regulators, insurance providers, and the public all demanding answers. In the UAE, non-compliance with mandated frameworks can result in penalties of up to AED 5 million and operational restrictions, including license revocation.

How Bohemia Market can help

The Bohemia Market ICS/OT Asset Management service is designed to support your compliance journey.

By providing a centralised, always-updated view of your assets, risks, vulnerabilities, processes, and tasks, it gives you the foundation to demonstrate alignment with relevant standards – whether that's IEC 62443, Saudi ECC/OTCC, UAE NIAF, or Qatar NIAS.

Every company's ICS/OT environment is different, and so is its path to compliance. That's why we'd like to invite you to a no-obligation conversation about your specific ICS/OT Asset Management needs and challenges.

Thank you for reading this series, {{first_name}}. We hope it has been a valuable resource for you, and we look forward to supporting your ICS/OT Asset Management journey.

Best regards,

Petr Roupec
CEO, Bohemia Market