Operationalizing NIS2 for OT Security Teams

The Silent Gap in OT Security

Regulatory frameworks often assume that organizations can implement technical and organizational measures efficiently. But in OT environments, that assumption falls short. Most industrial organizations:

• Lack full visibility into legacy and embedded assets.
• Operate with minimal cybersecurity staffing.
• Struggle with fragmented incident response processes.

There’s a fundamental gap between the compliance mandate and the operational capacity to fulfill it. The problem is that NIS2 doesn’t require you to only identify risks—it expects you to actively and consistently navigate them.

What NIS2 Compliance Looks Like at the Asset Level

Let’s focus on the NIS2 requirements that directly impact OT operations:

• Article 21- Risk Management Measures: Requires comprehensive understanding of systems, vulnerabilities, and mitigations.
• Article 23- Incident Handling: Expects timely, effective detection, reporting, and response.
• Supply Chain Security: Demands risk assessments for connected third parties and service providers

None of these can be fulfilled without real-time asset inventory, OT vulnerability management, workflow automation, and response orchestration. Yet, most OT teams lack personnel resources and may feel like they're in a time crunch

Bringing it to Life: Control Mapping and Solution Alignment

To support OT teams with practical implementation, we mapped several key NIS2 control areas and logging requirements to Verve® by Rockwell Automation’s capabilities. This gives a clear view of how we directly support compliance at the control level.

1. Log & Preserve OPS 1.1.5 A1–A13

NIS2 encourages transparency, so logging policies, synchronized clocks, encrypted storage, and redundant retention all play important roles.

Typical actions

• Draft an OT-centric logging policy that complements IT standards.
• Enable logging on PLCs, HMIs, servers, and network devices; review on a quarterly cadence.
• Centralize, encrypt, and digitally sign log files; retain them per GDPR and internal policy.
• Limit administrative ability to delete or modify stored logs.

How Verve adds value

The Verve platform discovers assets—including many legacy devices—collects system, network, and security logs, time stamps them with NTP, encrypts them in motion and at rest, and mirrors them to highly available storage. A built-in policy wizard helps generate or import OPS 1.1.5-aligned rule sets.

2. Detect & Escalate DER 1 A1–A18

Article 23 emphasizes prompt detection and well-defined alert paths.

Typical actions

• Publish a detection policy, assign ownership, and test alert channels.
• Enrich analytics with external threat intelligence (CERT bulletins, vendor advisories).
• Monitor logs around the clock, correlate anomalies across sites, and keep detection signatures current.
• Train team members and audit detection controls on a routine basis.

How Verve adds value

More than 400 MITRE-mapped rules run in near real time, blending local log data with CVE feeds and OEM advisories. Events route automatically to ticketing or SIEM tools, and asset-level contact trees help verify the right people—whether plant engineers or CISOs—receive timely notifications. Dashboards track mean time to detect for audit evidence.

3. Respond & Recover DER 2.1 A1–A20 and DER 2.3 A1–A10

Regulators look for evidence that alerts lead to measured, documented responses.

Typical actions

• Maintain incident-response and escalation policies endorsed by leadership.
• Define roles, contact lists, and forensic decision points in advance.
• Record each remediation step—from containment to system hardening—in an evidence-ready format.
• For advanced threats, convene a management committee, isolate affected zones, reset credentials, and validate recovery.

How Verve adds value

Operator-approved playbooks streamline quarantine, patching, configuration rollback, and user-account updates. Every action receives a time stamp that is resistant to tampering. For broader incidents, Verve professional services can help coordinate containment efforts and harden endpoints prior to bringing them back online.

4. Govern & Segment IND 1 A1–A17

Effective governance extends proven IT concepts—asset management, zoning, and change control—to the plant floor.

Typical actions

• Document each asset, segment, and conduit; apply a zone-and-conduit model.
• Run an OT-aware change-management process backed by a current inventory.
• Apply host- and network-hardening baselines; monitor for drift.
• Integrate vulnerability management into routine operations.

How Verve adds value

Continuous discovery maintains a live Configuration Management Database of hardware, software, users, and network flows. Baseline drift triggers alerts, and integrated patch-and-configuration orchestration addresses vulnerabilities without invasive scanning. Verve architects can also review and validate segmentation design.

5. Harden & Maintain IND 2.1 A1–A20

ICS components benefit from strong credentials, minimal services, removable-media controls, and consistent backups.

Typical actions

• Replace factory default credentials and store passwords in secure vaults.
• Disable unused ports and services; favor SSH and TLS for administration.
• Limit USB and Bluetooth use, maintain antivirus signatures, and back up before each change.
• Verify firmware integrity and install only manufacturer-approved updates.

How Verve adds value

The platform inventories open ports, weak services, and stale credentials, then either automates remediation in bulk or flags exceptions for operator review. USB insertions are logged and can trigger quarantine steps. Integrations with major AV and backup tools surface signature age and backup status in a single view.

6. Review & Improve (spans OPS, DER, IND)

NIS2 encourages an iterative approach—audits, drills, and KPI tracking help teams refine defenses.

Typical actions

• Schedule both planned and surprise drills; track metrics like mean time to respond and patch latency.
• Audit detection coverage, policy compliance, and post-incident findings.
• Share performance trends with executive leadership and adjust priorities as needed.

How Verve adds value

Built-in reporting measures detection coverage, response timelines, and remediation effectiveness. Custom dashboards roll up to leadership scorecards, helping demonstrate alignment with Article 21’s expectation for technical and organizational measures.

Addressing the Personnel Gap in OT Security

NIS2 raises the stakes for non-compliance. This includes financial penalties and executive accountability. Despite this, many OT teams operate with skeleton crews and no 24/7 security operations center (SOC).

Verve by Rockwell Automation was designed for this reality. By automating threat analysis and guiding remediation through operator-approved playbooks, we can reduce the burden on local teams and allow for additional response capacity —even with leaner workforces.

Why Remediation Capacity Is Compliance

Regulators aren’t just asking if you saw the alert. They want to know what you did about it. That’s why compliance maturity will increasingly be measured by response and resilience.

Verve by Rockwell Automation makes this shift possible by enabling:

• Closed-loop remediation
• Evidence-based response actions
• Sustainable, scalable playbooks for diverse OT environments

Final thoughts

Meeting NIS2 involves equipping OT teams to respond to risks quickly, confidently, and consistently. That starts at the asset level.

Verve by Rockwell Automation helps organizations transform visibility into control—and control into compliance. If you’re ready to operationalize NIS2, start where it matters most: Your endpoints.