March 2025

The Cost of Waiting

Why You Need to Take Back Control of User Access Now!

The Risk is Growing – Why Waiting is No Longer an Option

Cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure are increasing at an alarming rate. Attackers and nation-states are exploiting weaknesses in remote access, outdated VPNs, and fragmented identity management, leading to costly and disruptive breaches. The data speaks for itself:

71% of major OT cyber-attacks leveraged remote services as an entry point.¹
U.S. utilities saw a 70% increase in cyberattacks in 2024 compared to 2023.²
Dragos reports an 87% surge in ransomware attacks on industrial environments, with a growing focus on disrupting OT operations.

Every day you delay taking action, attackers become more sophisticated, and your organization remains vulnerable. Critical infrastructure operators must acknowledge that cyber adversaries are actively targeting remote access systems, identity controls, and unmonitored user sessions to infiltrate networks and disrupt operations.

Beyond the security risks, regulatory compliance is tightening, and failure to comply with mandates like NERC CIP, IEC 62443, and TSA Security Directives can lead to steep fines and even operational shutdowns. The message from regulators is clear: secure user access is no longer optional—it’s an operational imperative.

By taking action now, organizations can close these security gaps, eliminate unnecessary risks, and ensure compliance before it’s too late. Waiting increases the likelihood of a breach, a costly compliance violation, or an operational disruption that could have been prevented.

The True Cost of Delaying Action

Delaying the implementation of robust user access controls exposes organizations to significant financial, operational, and reputational risks.

Financial Costs:

Escalating Breach Expenses: The global average cost of a data breach reached $4.88 million in 2024, marking a 10% increase over the previous year. Cyberattacks cost energy and utility companies $4.72M per incident.⁴
Regulatory Fines and Legal Actions: Non-compliance with cybersecurity mandates such as NERC CIP, IEC 62443, and TSA Security Directives can lead to substantial fines and legal repercussions.

Operational Costs:

Downtime and Disruptions: Inadequate user access controls can result in system downtime, operational disruptions, and decreased productivity.
Delayed Responses: Inefficient access controls can slow down incident response times and hinder timely maintenance, exacerbating operational challenges.

Reputation Damage:

Loss of Trust: Customers, partners, and regulators may lose confidence in organizations that fail to protect their critical systems or fail to demonstrate regulatory compliance, leading to diminished business opportunities and market share.

Proactively securing user access is essential to avoid these escalating costs and maintain operational integrity.

The Fastest Way to Secure User Access and Achieve Compliance

Many organizations hesitate to adopt new security solutions because of concerns over complexity, long deployment timelines, and integration challenges. With Xona, those barriers are eliminated.

Unlike traditional access control solutions, PAM and RPAM solutions, and ZTNA solutions that take months or more to implement, Xona deploys in under an hour per site. And with no network reconfigurations required and no additional software agents to install, organizations can quickly transition from an outdated, high-risk remote access environment to a secure, identity-based access model that enforces least privilege and ensures compliance from day one.

Xona also eliminates VPN-related risks by replacing traditional network-based remote access with a secure, browser-based authentication system. This means no broad network access, no open ports, and no reliance on outdated security models that attackers frequently exploit.

For organizations subject to strict compliance regulations, Xona’s platform provides pre-configured security controls, full session recording, and real-time auditing features that simplify regulatory adherence while enhancing security. Compliance with NERC CIP, IEC 62443, TSA security directives, and other mandates is no longer a burden—it’s built into the platform from the moment of deployment.

The reality is clear: the longer organizations wait to secure their user access, the greater the risk becomes. But with Xona, that risk can be mitigated immediately.

What’s the Risk of Acting Now? None. What’s the Risk of Waiting? Everything. The choice is simple: act now and take control or wait and risk becoming the next target of an avoidable cyberattack. Competitors are already moving toward secure, zero-trust access solutions—don’t let your organization fall behind. Every day without action is a day where security gaps remain open, compliance risks grow, and operational inefficiencies persist.

Xona enables organizations to eliminate user access risks instantly with a frictionless, zero-client deployment that integrates seamlessly with existing OT and IT environments. There is no downside to acting now—but the potential consequences of waiting can be severe.

Secure your infrastructure today, and ensure that your critical systems remain operational, compliant, and protected against the growing wave of cyber threats against critical infrastructure.

Endnotes

New Study Reveals 92% of Industrial Sites at Risk from Unsecured Remote Access, Takepoint Research, 2024.
Cyberattacks on US utilities surged 70% this year, says Check Point, Reuters, September 11, 2024.
Takepoint Research Newsletter, February 28, 2025.
Cost of a Data Breach Report, IBM, 2024.

Xona Systems, a leading provider of secure access management solutions for critical infrastructure, is partnered with Barrier Networks, a managed security service provider for industrial organisations, to deliver a comprehensive, fully managed secure access solution for critical OT environments.

The partnership combines Xona’s cutting-edge secure access platform with Barrier’s deep operational cyber security expertise. It enables organisations across the UK to enhance the security of their endpoints within OT environments, meet regulatory compliance requirements, and simplify remote access management through an effortless, browser-based experience.

The collaboration provides operators of critical infrastructure with the expertise, technology and strategy needed to secure their environments while maintaining efficiency and operational resilience.

Better Together: The Joint Solution

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, critical infrastructure industries are more connected and complex than ever before. However, this connectivity brings significant risks as organizations face escalating threats to their operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and IT environments. Traditional access methods like VPNs and jump servers fail to provide the necessary security, leaving critical systems exposed to ransomware, malware, and operational disruptions

Xona and Barrier Networks have joined forces to eliminate these challenges by offering a seamless, secure, and easy-to-deploy access solution that minimizes risk, ensures compliance, and optimizes operational efficiency.

Xona’s Role: Secure, Simple, and Scalable Remote Access for OT

The Xona Platform delivers secure access to critical infrastructure with features purpose-built to address the unique challenges of OT environments. Key capabilities include:

Identity-Based Access Management – Ensures secure access for all users— onsite employees, remote workers, third-party vendors, and OEM partners—through role, identity, and time-based controls. Take back control of who, what, when, where, and how users can access critical systems.
Disconnected Access – Helps eliminate 100% of insecure endpoints that connect to critical systems by isolating critical system protocols, such as RDP, SSH, and VNC, from untrusted, transient user endpoints.
Seamless User Experience – A browser-based, clientless solution that simplifies remote access without requiring VPNs, agents, or plugins.
Granular Audit, Governance, and Compliance – Real-time session logging, recording, and enforcement of identity-based security policies.

Barrier Networks: Delivering security and resilience to OT organisations

Barrier is an expert at helping industrial operators build cyber resilience and develop strategies to defend against cyber-attacks. Barrier understands the unique challenges of protecting OT environments and offers its clients comprehensive OT security services designed to safeguard critical infrastructure against evolving and sophisticated cyber threats while building security programmes that guarantee resilience and availability.

The new partnership will enable Barrier to bolster its services with Xona’s market leading secure access solutions, providing an essential layer of security to safeguard critical environments.

Combining Barrier’s vast presence in the UK’s industrial sector with Xona’s cutting-edge OT solutions, more critical organisations will be able to enhance their access security against internal and external threat actors, ensuring that even as OT environments digitally transform through advancements in automation, no endpoints or users are ever overlooked.

“Critical industry organisations are facing an increased risk of attack from cyber criminals and nation state adversaries, who are either financially motivated or want to cause harm to society. Access into these critical networks has become a growing concern, particularly as OT environments become increasingly connected, creating more entry points for attackers to exploit. Our new partnership with Xona will help tackle these issues, providing our customers with a secure access solution dedicated to complex OT environments,” said Ian McGowan, managing director of Barrier Networks.

As critical infrastructure industries face increasing digital threats and navigate an evolving regulatory landscape, secure, simple access solutions like Xona’s are more crucial than ever.

The platform secures critical OT, IT, and cloud environments and helps companies meet industry standards, including IEC 62443, the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), and NERC-CIP compliance requirements.

About Barrier Networks:

At Barrier, our mission is to help our customers build cyber resilience and develop strategies to defend against cyber attacks. We have created a portfolio of services and solutions that suit small and large customers in both the private and public sectors. Our portfolio encompasses the initial consultancy to identify the right strategy, to solutions from innovative vendors to mitigate attacks, through to managed services to detect attacks and provide incident response.

We have also built a practice dedicated to providing assurance that systems are resilient to attack. We provide penetration testing services to check the effectiveness of the deployed controls and vulnerability management to maintain resilience.

We aim to build trust and understanding of how our customers’ organisations function. Our work spans all sectors, with strong references in the Finance, Legal, HMG/MoD, and the Public Sector.

https://www.barriernetworks.com/

About Xona

Xona Systems is a leading provider of secure access solutions for critical systems and operational technology environments. By combining unmatched security with ease of deployment, Xona helps organisations reduce their attack surface and comply with industry regulations while offering the best user experience on the market. Trusted by industry leaders across energy, manufacturing, and utilities, Xona’s solutions protect critical systems around the world.

www.xonasystems.com

And Xona Can Help You Take Back Control of Your User Access for Critical Infrastructure in Under 1 Hour!

Introduction – Why Controlling User Access to Critical Systems is So Crucial

In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, user access control is the single most important, foundational cybersecurity priority for critical infrastructure owners and operators. Attackers continue to exploit weaknesses including legacy remote access mechanisms, and the consequences are severe. A few indicative statistics of this priority include:

Remote services were the primary attack vector in 71% of major cyber-attacks on OT environments.¹

Ninety one percent (91%) of security professionals express concerns about VPNs compromising IT security.²

These statistics highlight a harsh reality—outdated access solutions like VPNs and jump servers are no longer sufficient to protect critical infrastructure. Attackers exploit gaps in identity verification, authentication, session controls, and open network access, leading to ransomware, system breaches, and operational downtime.

Organizations that lack centralized control over user access expose themselves to increased cyber risk, regulatory penalties, and inefficiencies that threaten operations. The solution? A modern, purpose-built critical infrastructure approach to secure access.

This blog explores what it truly means to take control of user access, outlines the key steps, and explains why Xona is the obvious choice in secure access for critical infrastructure.

What Does It Mean to Control User Access?

Taking control of user access means moving beyond legacy, fragmented access solutions and implementing a centralized, identity-based approach designed specifically for critical infrastructure environments. Without full control, organizations remain vulnerable to unauthorized access, operational inefficiencies, and regulatory penalties.

Before and After: The Risks of Poor Access Control

Before Xona Organizations relying on legacy access methods–face persistent cybersecurity risks, with broad attack surfaces and limited oversight of remote sessions.	After Xona A unified, identity-driven access model ensuring only authorized users can access critical systems, with complete auditability and session control.
Scattered & Unsecure Access: Remote users, vendors, and third-party contractors use multiple access methods (VPNs, jump servers, RDP, SSH), creating security gaps.	Centralized & Secure Access: Xona provides a single, browser-based access platform with zero trust security, eliminating risky direct connections.
VPN Complexity & Vulnerabilities: VPNs provide broad network access, increasing attack surfaces and compliance risks.	VPN-Free Secure Access: Xona removes VPN dependencies, enforcing granular access control with least-privilege principles.
OT & IT Silos: OT teams lack a streamlined, secure way to access ICS and industrial systems without IT-heavy tools.	Seamless OT & IT Integration: Xona bridges IT and OT with identity-based access that works with existing IAM and PAM solutions.
Compliance Nightmares: Meeting NERC-CIP, IEC 62443, TSA SD2, and other mandates is resource-intensive and difficult to prove.	Built-in Compliance & Auditability: Xona simplifies compliance with automatic session recording, access logs, and audit-ready reports.
Operational Bottlenecks: Secure remote access is slow, requiring IT approvals and complicated login processes, delaying troubleshooting and maintenance.	Fast & Effortless Access: Xona enables users to connect in seconds, reducing downtime and improving operational efficiency.
Risky Third-Party Access: Vendors and contractors often have excessive, uncontrolled access, leading to potential insider threats.	Controlled Third-Party Access: Granular, time-limited, and monitored sessions ensure vendors only access what they need, when they need it.
Unmonitored User Sessions: No visibility into who accessed what and what was changed during the session, making security incidents difficult to investigate.	Full Session Visibility & Oversight: Xona provides real-time session monitoring, video recording, and administrative override controls.
High Admin Overhead: Multiple solutions and components stitched together increases admin overhead and maintenance requiring management of multiple access solutions and constant patching and troubleshooting.	Simple & Low-Maintenance: Xona’s zero-client, agentless platform reduces admin workload with fast deployment and minimal ongoing management.

Key Steps to Taking Control of User Access to Your Critical Systems

Securing critical infrastructure requires a comprehensive, zero-trust approach that prioritizes identity, enforcement, visibility, and compliance. Below are the essential steps organizations must take to eliminate security gaps and establish a resilient user access framework.

Universal User Access Platform, Purpose-Built for Critical Infrastructure
Legacy IT-based solutions fail to meet the unique needs of OT environments. Xona’s platform is designed specifically for critical infrastructure operations, ensuring seamless, scalable, and secure access for internal employees, remote users, third-party vendors, and OEM partners.
Standardized Identity Administration, Authorization, Authentication, and Policy Enforcement
Fragmented identity systems create blind spots and compliance risks. A centralized approach to identity management ensures consistent enforcement of access policies, supporting Active Directory (AD), LDAP, SAML, MFA, IAM, and PAM integrations for IT and OT convergence.
Enforcing Least Privilege and Zero-Trust Access
Persistent access increases attack surfaces and business risks. Implementing just-in-time access and role-based access control ensures that users only access what they need, when they need it, reducing insider threats and unauthorized privilege escalation.
User Session Supervision, Collaboration, and Override
Security and operations teams must have real-time oversight into user activity. Xona’s platform enables continuous session monitoring, collaborative troubleshooting, and immediate administrative override when necessary to prevent misuse or unauthorized changes.
Delivers on Compliance Mandates
Regulatory frameworks such as NERC CIP, IEC 62443, TSA Security Directives, and NIST 800-53 demand strict access controls and auditability. Xona’s solution simplifies compliance by enforcing granular access controls, full session recording, and capturing detailed session logs.
Simple to Deploy, Administer, and Use
Traditional remote access solutions are complex and time-consuming to implement. Xona eliminates network reconfigurations, agents, and additional infrastructure, providing a frictionless, browser-based user experience that’s technology agnostic and easy for administrators and end-users alike.

By following these key steps, organizations can take back control of user access, reduce their attack surface, enhance compliance, and strengthen overall security while ensuring seamless, uninterrupted operations.

Why Xona? The Best Secure Access Platform for Critical Infrastructure

When it comes to taking back control of user access, Xona is the clear leader. Why? Because Xona provides the simplest, fastest, and most secure way to manage user access across critical infrastructure.

1. Take Control in Under One Hour

Unlike traditional solutions that take weeks or months to configure, Xona can be fully deployed in under an hour.

No network reconfigurations, no user agents, no cloud dependencies.
Eliminates the need for VPNs, jump hosts, and complex firewall rules.
Deployable as on-prem hardware (1U, DIN rail) or virtual appliances.
Integrates seamlessly with existing identity systems (AD, LDAP, SAML, MFA, PAM).
Frictionless browser-based access with minimal training required.

2. Purpose-Built for Critical Infrastructure

Xona was designed from the ground up for operational technology (OT) environments, ensuring it meets the unique challenges of securing industrial networks.

Zero-trust architecture that enforces least-privilege access.
Real-time monitoring and session controls to ensure continuous oversight.
Seamless identity federation between IT and OT systems for unified access control.

3. Simple to Administer and Use

Security solutions shouldn’t slow operations down. Xona simplifies access management while maintaining the highest level of security.

Eliminates the need for complex VPN or jump server management.
Supports just-in-time access controls for third-party vendors.
Enables centralized identity management across multiple domains.

4. Compliance-Ready from Day One

Xona’s platform is built to help organizations meet strict regulatory requirements such as:

NERC CIP (North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection)
IEC 62443 (International standards for industrial cybersecurity)
TSA Security Directives for pipeline and rail cybersecurity
NIST 800-53 for federal IT security standards

With Xona’s pre-configured compliance controls, organizations can ensure secure access without additional customization or infrastructure changes.

The Bottom Line

Taking control of user access shouldn’t be complex or time-consuming. With Xona, you can secure critical infrastructure in under an hour, simplify access management, and eliminate the risks of legacy remote access solutions.

Ready to see how it works? Request a demo today and take control of user access before it’s too late.