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Securing the unpatchable in an age of AI-driven vulnerabilities

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Securing the unpatchable in an age of AI-driven vulnerabilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the discovery of vulnerabilities in operational technology (OT) systems that often cannot be patched due to certification requirements or end-of-life constraints. Since patching may be infeasible, organizations can deploy compensatory controls including next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) with intrusion prevention systems (IPS) for traffic filtering, network segmentation via VLANs and access control lists (ACLs), and enhanced visibility to protect unpatchable systems. Air gaps and data diodes offer theoretical separation but frequently fail in practice due to operational shortcuts and human factors.

Why it matters: OT system operators managing legacy or certified equipment must implement network-based defenses (NGFW/IPS, micro-segmentation, visibility) to mitigate known vulnerabilities when patching is impossible, reducing the window for attackers discovered by AI-assisted code analysis.

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