Braskem rolls out Rockwell SecureOT across 39 sites

Braskem is deploying Rockwell Automation's SecureOT Platform across its industrial operations, covering more than 39 facilities.

The chemical producer is adopting the operational technology security platform to improve visibility across a large and varied estate of industrial systems. The roll-out gives Braskem a consolidated real-time view of OT assets to support risk management and decision-making.

Cybersecurity has become a more pressing issue for manufacturers as production sites connect more systems and combine information technology with plant-floor operations. In that environment, knowing which devices are connected to industrial networks and where vulnerabilities lie has become a basic requirement for security teams and plant managers.

Braskem operates industrial sites across Brazil, the United States, Mexico and Germany, with products sold in more than 70 countries. Its operations include a mix of technologies and equipment vendors, a common feature in large manufacturing groups that can complicate efforts to maintain a current inventory of connected assets.

Within the first eight months of the project, the platform was deployed across more than 39 industrial facilities worldwide. During that time, Braskem mapped and catalogued more than 3,000 assets, completed all project preparation work and reached 95% infrastructure readiness.

Braskem said the project has improved how its teams manage operational risk. It added that the system helps maintain an up-to-date inventory across OT environments, supports the prioritisation of vulnerability remediation and improves its ability to demonstrate compliance during audits.

Asset visibility

Operational technology, or OT, refers to the hardware and software used to monitor and control industrial equipment, networks and processes. Unlike traditional office IT systems, OT environments often include legacy machines, specialist control systems and equipment from multiple suppliers, which can make visibility and patching harder to manage.

That issue is central to Braskem's security programme, according to Arron Nelson, Industrial Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Specialist at Braskem.

"One of the biggest challenges in OT cybersecurity is knowing exactly what is connected to your environment and understanding where your risks exist," Nelson said.

"As cyber threats continue to evolve, including those leveraging AI, organisations need better visibility to make informed decisions. SecureOT gives us a stronger understanding of our OT assets and helps us take a more proactive approach to securing critical operations."

Rockwell said the platform is vendor-neutral, meaning it is designed to work across mixed industrial environments rather than requiring a single equipment supplier. That matters for companies such as Braskem, where sites have been built, expanded and updated over time with systems from different manufacturers.

Broader pressure

The wider manufacturing sector has been under pressure to improve cyber defences as industrial organisations digitise operations and connect a growing number of production assets to wider networks. The convergence of IT and OT has increased the amount of data available to operators, but it has also widened the potential attack surface.

Rockwell cited its own manufacturing research showing cybersecurity as one of the leading external risks facing the sector. For plant operators, the challenge is not only to stop intrusions but also to understand which systems are in place, which are exposed and which should be addressed first.

Rick Kaun, Global Director, Cybersecurity Services at Rockwell Automation, said the need for visibility is driving demand for tools that automate asset discovery and provide context around vulnerabilities.

"Today's industrial operators can't protect what they can't see," Kaun said.

"Organisations like Braskem are turning to SecureOT Platform for an asset-centric, contextual inventory that helps them move away from inaccurate, ill-fitting or manual approaches to OT asset inventory and toward automated visibility. By integrating asset visibility, vulnerability management and managed detection services into one vendor-neutral framework, we help organisations contextualise, prioritise and reduce risk, maintain uptime and build sustainable, resilient operations."

Braskem employs almost 8,000 people and has 39 industrial units, while Rockwell has about 26,000 employees serving customers in more than 100 countries. The scale of the deployment means Braskem's OT security programme now spans much of its industrial footprint, with more than 3,000 assets already mapped and catalogued.