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Research finds critical infrastructure organisations facing growing security gaps as AI-powered attacks accelerate vulnerability exploitation
Palo Alto Networks has published the 2026 State of Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Report, based on a survey of more than 1,600 critical infrastructure security leaders across 11 countries and five critical sectors. The research examines the challenges organisations face in securing increasingly connected IT and OT environments, including limited visibility, legacy infrastructure and the growing risk of Frontier AI-powered attacks.
Key findings: global
- Frontier AI is a growing concern: 95% of critical infrastructure security leaders are concerned about Frontier AI-powered attacks.
- Breaches are affecting operations: 59% experienced a significant security breach in the past year, with half of those organisations citing physical safety concerns as a result.
- OT visibility remains limited: 68% do not have complete, real-time visibility into all assets connected to their OT networks.
- Legacy infrastructure remains a major risk: 42% identified legacy, unpatchable OT assets as their biggest cybersecurity risk.
- IT and OT security remains fragmented: 74% have not fully integrated their IT and OT security operations.
Key findings: Asia-Pacific
Based on 620 respondents across Asia-Pacific:
- Cyber incidents are taking an operational toll: 58% experienced a security incident that impacted operations in the past 12 months.
- Blind spots persist across OT networks: 74% lack complete, real-time visibility into connected OT assets.
- Security tool sprawl adds to complexity: 64% use six or more security tools across IT and OT environments.
- Frontier AI threats are raising alarm: 92% are concerned about Frontier AI-powered attacks targeting critical infrastructure.
- Organizations are looking to AI for defense: 90% expect AI security solutions to help defend against Frontier AI threats.
- IT/OT convergence has a long way to go: 80% have not fully integrated their IT and OT security operations.
Tom Scully, Industry Principal, Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks, said:
“Critical infrastructure is entering a period where the systems organisations rely on most are becoming increasingly connected, while the time available to respond to security risks continues to shrink. This makes visibility and resilience across IT and OT environments increasingly important. Organisations need to move toward a more coordinated approach that can identify which systems are most critical, contain threats before they spread and put protection in place without disrupting essential operations.”
Priorities for Critical Infrastructure leaders
The report highlights the need for organisations to move beyond fragmented security measures towards a more coordinated approach. This starts with gaining complete visibility into connected OT assets, prioritising vulnerabilities based on operational risk, and reducing dependence on disconnected security tools. Greater automation in threat detection and response, alongside closer integration between IT and OT security teams, will be critical to strengthening resilience against increasingly sophisticated, AI-powered threats.
Securing Critical Infrastructure against evolving risks
Palo Alto Networks’ PAN-OS 12.2 Ceres introduces Frontier Virtual Patching to help protect against vulnerabilities at the network level, alongside ruggedised next-generation firewalls designed for critical infrastructure environments.
The Frontier AI Critical Defense Program extends this approach through collaboration with organisations across OT, healthcare, commercial software and open-source communities. The aim is to identify emerging vulnerabilities earlier and put protections in place before attackers can exploit them, reducing the reliance on traditional patching cycles.
Read the blog diving deeper into the findings from the report here.
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