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Honeywell Report: OT Security Teams Adopt AI, but Autonomy Remains Limited
Key points
- 88% rate OT security as mature, but only 21% have full asset inventory.
- 99% expect AI to affect OT security in 2-3 years.
- 72% use AI for threat detection, 23% use autonomous AI.
- Average downtime from incidents is 16.2 hours.
OT Security Preparedness Gap Identified
Honeywell's 2026 OT Cybersecurity Benchmark Report reveals a discrepancy in how industrial organizations assess their operational technology (OT) security. While 88% of 603 surveyed leaders across critical infrastructure sectors described their OT security programs as mature or design-led, only 21% maintained a complete inventory of their OT assets. This suggests a significant gap between perceived readiness and actual foundational security practices.
Visibility and Monitoring Challenges
The report highlighted visibility issues beyond asset inventory. Only 33% of respondents had OT fully integrated into a centralized security operations center. Furthermore, just 20% continuously monitored more than three-quarters of their connected IoT devices. These findings indicate widespread blind spots in OT environments, making comprehensive security difficult.
Impact of OT Cybersecurity Incidents
Organizations that experienced a significant OT cybersecurity incident reported an average of 16.2 hours of downtime. Among those affected, 21% estimated downtime costs exceeding $100,000 per hour, with 4% reporting losses above $500,000 per hour. Incident rates varied by sector, with energy and utilities (91%) and maritime (87%) reporting high occurrences, compared to oil and gas (54%).
AI Adoption in OT Security
The report also examined the role of AI in OT security. A significant 99% of respondents anticipate AI will influence OT security operations within the next 2-3 years. AI-enabled tools are already prevalent, with 72% using AI for threat detection, 68% for continuous monitoring, and 59% for asset inventory. This indicates a broad acceptance and integration of AI in various security functions.
Limited Autonomous AI Deployment
Despite the widespread use of AI, only 23% of organizations currently employ autonomous or agentic AI for threat detection. This suggests that most AI deployments in OT security are currently assisting human analysts rather than operating independently. Honeywell noted that as AI moves towards autonomous action, organizations will need clear decision rights, human oversight, and testing to manage operational consequences and avoid new risks to uptime, equipment, or safety.
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Reporting from
Honeywell's 2026 OT Cybersecurity Benchmark Report indicates a gap between perceived and actual OT security preparedness, with 88% of organizations rating their programs as mature but only 21% having a complete asset inventory. The report also found 99% of respondents expect AI to impact OT security within 2-3 years, with 72% already using AI for threat detection, though only 23% employ autonomous AI.