Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 has driven rapid digital transformation, leading to widespread adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) across multiple industries. While this growth brings significant opportunities, it also introduces a critical challenge: an expanding “invisible attack surface” created by unmanaged and unsecured devices.
This issue does not stem from a lack of commitment to cybersecurity but rather from a fundamental mismatch between traditional security tools and the unique characteristics of IoT environments. Standard IT security solutions, designed for computers and servers, often cannot detect or manage many IoT and OT devices due to differences in their communication methods and operational needs. Many IoT devices use specialised communication protocols that typical IT security scanners cannot interpret. Additionally, most IoT devices lack the processing power for endpoint security agents, common in traditional IT settings. Devices also often come with default passwords that are rarely changed, creating easy entry points for attackers. Furthermore, updating the firmware for these devices is often complex and requires physical access, leading to delays in security patches. The decentralised deployment of these devices, often by non-IT teams, further complicates security management.
The core challenge arises from the architectural and operational distinctions of IoT and OT devices:
• Proprietary Protocols: Many IoT devices use specialised communication protocols that standard IT security scanners cannot interpret, rendering them invisible to conventional detection methods.
• Agent Incompatibility: Most IoT devices lack the processing power or compatibility to run endpoint security agents, which are common in traditional IT environments.
• Default Credentials: Devices often come with hard-coded default passwords that are rarely changed, creating easy entry points for attackers.
• Complex Firmware Management: Embedded firmware, crucial for device functionality and security, is difficult to update across diverse IoT estates. Updates often require physical access or extensive maintenance windows.
• Decentralised Deployment: Non-IT teams, contractors, and third parties frequently deploy devices without informing IT security, leading to unregistered and unmanaged assets.
This situation means organisations can invest heavily in advanced security firewalls and monitoring platforms yet remain vulnerable to attacks through an outdated building management system with default credentials that the security stack never even knew existed.
Cyber adversaries recognise these blind spots. Threat intelligence indicates a growing trend of nation-state actors and ransomware groups exploiting poorly monitored and rarely patched IoT and OT devices as initial access points. The attack methodology is straightforward: compromise an unmanaged IoT device, establish a foothold, move laterally within the network, and eventually target high-value IT systems or operational technology controlling physical infrastructure. This can lead to breaches that go undetected for extended periods.
Given the critical nature of interconnected infrastructure, the stakes are particularly high. Energy facilities, water treatment plants, telecommunications networks, financial systems, and government services all rely on these devices. A successful attack could lead to physical disruptions impacting essential services and millions of citizens. The convergence of IT and OT environments expands the attack surface, turning seemingly minor vulnerabilities in sensors into potential pathways to critical control systems.
The National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) has established comprehensive frameworks, including Essential Cybersecurity Controls and guidelines for critical systems and smart cities. These frameworks mandate asset inventory management, vulnerability assessments, and continuous monitoring. However, a significant challenge remains: these regulations assume organisations can accurately identify and secure their assets, providing limited guidance on the initial discovery of unknown IoT and OT devices.
This creates a compliance paradox where organisations might fulfill regulatory requirements by documenting processes, yet still have thousands of unsecured IoT devices operating invisibly on their networks. The result is often compliance without actual security, leaving substantial vulnerabilities unaddressed.
Even when IoT and OT devices are identified, implementing fundamental security practices proves challenging due to the scale and diversity of these environments:
- Password Rotation: Managing password changes for thousands of devices with varied authentication methods across multiple locations is a complex and resource-intensive task.
- Firmware Updates: Deploying firmware updates to patch vulnerabilities is often manual, time-consuming, and can require physical access, leading to delays and prolonged exposure to known threats.
- Certificate Management: Tracking and renewing digital certificates for secure communication across a diverse range of IoT devices is difficult, and expired certificates can lead to operational outages or security compromises.
The manual effort required for these tasks often exceeds the available resources of most organisations, leading to neglect of critical security functions.
Ambitious smart city initiatives, including NEOM and projects in Riyadh and Jeddah, further exacerbate these security challenges. These urban environments depend on extensive IoT sensor networks for traffic management, environmental monitoring, smart lighting, waste management, and public safety. Each deployment introduces thousands of devices from various vendors, often physically accessible in public spaces, and connected to networks managed by different government agencies and contractors.
This creates a distributed attack surface spanning the entire urban area. Without automated discovery and robust security protocols, smart cities risk becoming vast, interconnected vulnerabilities susceptible to exploitation.
Addressing the xIoT security challenge requires a shift from passive detection to active and automated remediation. Effective strategies include:
- Safe, Protocol-Aware Discovery: Tools that can identify every IoT and OT device, including those using proprietary protocols, without disrupting operations.
- Automated Credential Rotation: Solutions for automatically managing and rotating credentials across diverse device types.
- Scalable Firmware and Configuration Management: Systems capable of safely updating firmware and configurations for thousands of devices, with scheduling that minimises operational impact.
- Certificate Lifecycle Management: Mechanisms to track and manage digital certificates, preventing expirations and ensuring secure communications.
- Continuous Monitoring and Remediation: Proactive systems that detect new devices, configuration drifts, and expiring certificates, with automated capabilities to resolve issues before they become vulnerabilities.
These solutions aim to reduce reliance on manual intervention, which is unsustainable given the scale and complexity of xIoT environments.
The energy sector offers valuable insights, as it heavily relies on industrial IoT and OT systems spread across vast, often harsh, environments. Companies in this sector are increasingly adopting discovery technologies specifically designed for industrial protocols, prioritising automated remediation, and integrating IoT security into their existing security operations. This approach allows them to move from incomplete inventories to comprehensive, continuously updated asset maps, enabling efficient credential rotation, firmware updates, and configuration remediation.
While technology plays a crucial role, solving the xIoT security challenge also requires significant operational and cultural changes:
- Governance: Implement policies mandating device registration before deployment, enforce security requirements in vendor contracts, and prioritise “secure by design” products in procurement.
- Operational Alignment: Foster collaboration between IT security, OT teams, facilities, and procurement to streamline secure deployment processes and dismantle organisational silos.
- Workforce Development: Bridge the cybersecurity talent gap by developing professionals with expertise in both IT security and operational technology.
- Cultural Change: Promote a culture where secure deployment is the default, preventing the creation of shadow IoT populations by making secure practices easier than insecure ones.
Saudi Arabia’s cybersecurity sector is projected to reach $11.54 billion by 2034, reflecting the urgency of securing its digital future. While ranking high in global cybersecurity indexes, this alone will not resolve the xIoT challenge. A fundamental shift is needed in how organisations approach the extended Internet of Things.
This means acknowledging that traditional IT security approaches are inadequate for xIoT environments and investing in specialised capabilities for device discovery, automated remediation, and continuous monitoring. xIoT security must be treated as a distinct discipline requiring dedicated attention and resources. The continuous deployment of new IoT devices means that the attack surface grows daily. Waiting for a major breach to force the issue is not an option; proactive measures are essential now.
Solutions exist to discover the undiscoverable, remediate at scale, and provide continuous assurance. Organisations implementing these capabilities gain not just compliance, but genuine security—the ability to know every device on their network, understand its security posture, and maintain that posture automatically as the environment evolves. As Vision 2030 progresses, cyber resilience increasingly depends on securing the vast, distributed, and often invisible ecosystem of IoT and OT devices that underpin critical infrastructure, smart cities, and essential services.
Saudi Arabia’s quick digital growth offers enormous potential as well as serious cybersecurity risks. A strategic shift toward specialised, automated, and protocol-aware security solutions is necessary to address this. Saudi Arabia can strengthen its vital infrastructure against new threats by emphasising automated discovery, strong credential management, scalable firmware updates, and ongoing monitoring in addition to significant operational and cultural changes. Adopting a holistic security posture, in which each linked device is recognised, controlled, and safe, is not only a technical necessity but also a fundamental component for achieving the Kingdom’s digital goals without sacrificing stability or security.
The choice to act decisively now will determine long-term cyber resilience.
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