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Secure a physical AI device as a cyber-physical or operational-technology system, not as an ordinary connected gadget. Inventory every component that can sense or change the physical environment, remove unnecessary internet exposure, tightly govern remote access, separate management functions, and make safe behavior explicit for lost connectivity and untrusted inputs. Then test recovery and review the controls whenever the device, model, network, or operating process changes.
Why physical AI security is different
A physical AI device combines software decision-making with actuators, machinery, vehicles, tools, building systems, laboratory equipment, or other processes. It may classify images, interpret language, optimize a process, or plan movement, but the security consequence is physical: a compromised command can move an arm, open a valve, change a machine setting, disable a protective function, or prevent an operator from taking control.
That makes three security properties safety-relevant:
- Command integrity: instructions and settings must not be altered while moving between the AI component, controller, gateway, and actuator.
- Availability: operators must be able to reach the functions needed to stop, isolate, or safely operate the process. An attacker can cause harm by blocking legitimate commands as well as by issuing bad ones.
- Confidentiality and context: sensor data, maps, credentials, maintenance information, and operating schedules can reveal how to attack the physical process.
Operational technology (OT) security has to account for performance, reliability, and safety requirements. NIST describes this approach in SP 800-82 Rev. 3, Guide to Operational Technology (OT) Security, the final edition published September 28, 2023. A firewall rule or software update that is sensible for an office computer can interrupt a time-sensitive or safety-critical process, so controls must be selected and introduced through the device’s safety and change-management procedures.
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1. Map the device and every path to physical action
Begin with a control-path map. Do not stop at the product name or its mobile application. Record the physical unit, its AI models and inference runtime, programmable controllers, safety controllers, gateways, local workstations, cloud services, operator and service accounts, maintenance tools, wireless links, wired networks, and external integrations. Mark every component that can issue a command, alter a limit, change a model, or prevent a stop action.
Inventory checklist
- Physical device, sensors, actuators, safety interlocks, emergency-stop circuits, and local control panels.
- AI model files, model-serving software, training or configuration data, and the process that approves model changes.
- Controllers, PLCs, robot or vehicle controllers, edge computers, gateways, and protocol converters.
- Cloud consoles, APIs, update servers, remote-support applications, and identity providers.
- Human accounts, service accounts, tokens, certificates, vendor accounts, and break-glass credentials.
- All network interfaces, addresses, wireless radios, VPNs, cellular links, maintenance ports, and data flows.
- Physical locations, cabinets, rooms, removable media, and people who can reach the equipment.
For each item, document who can administer it, what it can command, what it depends on, and how it behaves if a dependency is unavailable. A one-way sensor feed, an engineering workstation with write access, and a cloud API that can dispatch motion are different risks and should not be treated as equivalent assets.
Identify trust boundaries
Draw boundaries between the device and enterprise IT, between the control network and an internet-facing service, and between administrative functions and ordinary operating traffic. Note where identity is checked, where commands are translated, and where data can be modified. This map becomes the basis for firewall rules, remote-access approvals, monitoring, safety analysis, and recovery priorities.
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The safest externally reachable service is one that does not exist. Disable unused web consoles, remote shells, debugging interfaces, vendor tunnels, discovery protocols, and default wireless features. Remove public addresses from controllers and gateways when the operating model does not require them. Place essential services behind controlled gateways rather than exposing the device itself.
For assets that must remain reachable
- Change every default password and credential. Use unique, long credentials for each device and service; remove unused accounts and rotate secrets after installation or vendor maintenance.
- Apply current security updates. Confirm that updates are authentic, test them against the operating process, schedule an approved maintenance window, and retain a rollback method.
- Replace unsupported systems. If a controller, operating system, gateway, or remote-access product no longer receives security fixes, isolate it while planning replacement or a documented compensating control.
- Use a monitored jump host. Require administrators to connect to a hardened intermediary, then reach the OT asset from that host. Do not permit direct inbound administration from the public internet.
- Monitor ingress and egress traffic. Alert on new destinations, unexpected protocols, unusual data volume, repeated authentication failures, and connections outside approved maintenance windows.
- Require multifactor authentication where the identity system supports it. A FIDO2 security key can be one factor for a compatible identity provider, but it is not a substitute for network segmentation, authorization, logging, or safe operating limits.
CISA’s Internet Exposure Reduction Guidance, published June 4, 2025, provides this type of practical treatment for assets that cannot be removed from the internet. The exact exposure decision still belongs to the device owner and the safety and risk authorities for the process.
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3. Govern every remote-access session
Remote administration should be an exception with a named purpose, not a permanent convenience. Approve the user, originating system, target asset, task, time window, and commands or functions required. Give the session the least privilege that completes the task, and revoke access when the work ends.
Controls for operators and maintainers
- Use individual accounts rather than shared administrator credentials.
- Require multifactor authentication and device health checks before the jump host accepts a connection.
- Use just-in-time or time-limited authorization for maintenance and vendor support.
- Record session start and end times, identity, source device, target asset, commands, configuration changes, file transfers, and approvals.
- Alert when a session occurs outside its approved window, reaches an unusual asset, or attempts a prohibited command.
- Review remote-access software, scheduled tasks, browser extensions, and service accounts for unauthorized persistence.
- Disable unattended access unless a documented safety and operational need exists.
Legitimate remote-support tools are not automatically safe. CISA warns that “cyber threat actors increasingly co-opt these tools for access to victim systems.” Treat a familiar tool as a privileged pathway: authorize it, restrict it, monitor it, and remove it when no longer needed.
4. Segment networks and protect management functions
Separate safety and control traffic from business systems, guest networks, and public services. Use zones and conduits appropriate to the process, with deny-by-default rules and narrowly defined flows. A device that only sends telemetry should not share the same unrestricted path as a workstation that can change motion limits.
Protect the administrative plane
Management interfaces deserve their own protections. Place engineering workstations, controller-management ports, update servers, identity services, and monitoring systems in restricted administrative zones. Permit management traffic only from approved systems, and prevent ordinary operator or enterprise devices from reaching those interfaces directly. Monitor both allowed and denied connections so a new trust relationship is visible.
NIST’s SP 800-82 Rev. 4 is an initial public draft published September 21, 2026, with comments due November 30, 2026; it is not final guidance. The draft expands discussion of asset management, network monitoring and detection, protection of system-management functions, and zero-trust principles. Use it as a draft reference, while treating the final Rev. 3 as the currently final NIST OT guide.
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Apply zero-trust ideas without ignoring process safety
Verify the user, device, request, and target for each administrative action instead of assuming that a device inside an OT zone is trustworthy. However, do not insert authentication or inspection steps blindly into a time-critical control loop. Put enforcement at management boundaries where it cannot delay a safety function, and validate the design through the process hazard and reliability reviews.
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Cybersecurity controls cannot determine whether a physical action is safe. The operating owner must define the allowed command set, operating envelope, human approvals, and response to uncertainty. AI safety controls also do not replace cybersecurity; a model that rejects an unsafe instruction can still be bypassed if an attacker changes the controller or its configuration.
Specify the operating envelope
- Set hard limits for speed, force, temperature, pressure, position, load, energy, and other process-specific variables.
- Use independent interlocks or safety controllers for limits that must not depend solely on an AI model or general-purpose software.
- Define which actions require a human confirmation, which are automatically permitted, and which are never permitted remotely.
- Constrain model outputs to a validated command schema; reject malformed, out-of-range, stale, or unsigned commands.
- Separate observation from actuation so a compromised analytics component cannot automatically gain write authority.
Plan for untrusted inputs and outages
Decide what happens when a sensor is spoofed, a model confidence score falls, a command signature fails, the network disconnects, or the cloud service is unavailable. Depending on the process, the correct response may be a controlled stop, a hold at the last verified state, a reduced-power mode, local manual control, or continued operation under a bounded fallback. Do not assume that “fail safe” has one universal meaning: stopping abruptly can itself create danger in some machinery and processes.
Document who can approve a fallback, how operators recognize it, and how the device returns to normal operation. The joint Principles for the Secure Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Operational Technology, published December 3, 2025 by CISA, ASD’s ACSC, and international partners, emphasizes coordinated safety, security, reliability, and oversight practices for AI in OT.
6. Secure software, models, and configuration changes
Keep an authoritative record of the firmware, operating system, controller logic, AI model version, prompts or policies, configuration, and safety limits installed on each asset. Verify update provenance and integrity before installation. Restrict who can upload a model, change a prompt that influences commands, alter a controller program, or approve a new operating envelope.
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Use OT-aware change control
- Describe the requested change and the physical functions it can affect.
- Review security, safety, reliability, and maintenance implications with the responsible specialists.
- Test in a representative environment or simulator where practical, including loss of communications and malformed inputs.
- Schedule the change in an approved window and confirm a person can stop or isolate the process.
- Back up the previous firmware, model, logic, and configuration in a protected location.
- Verify post-change behavior, logs, alarms, and access permissions before returning to normal operation.
Do not treat a model update as an ordinary content change. A new model can alter timing, classifications, trajectories, or resource use even when the surrounding application code is unchanged.
7. Monitor for takeover and unsafe action
Collect logs from identity systems, jump hosts, gateways, controllers, AI runtimes, safety systems, and physical access systems where feasible. Synchronize clocks so an investigator can reconstruct the sequence of an authorization, model decision, command, alarm, and operator response.
Useful detections
- New or disabled accounts, privilege changes, failed logins, and authentication from an unusual location.
- Remote sessions outside approved windows or from an unrecognized jump host.
- Changes to model files, controller logic, command schemas, safety limits, or update settings.
- Commands outside normal ranges, unusually rapid command sequences, repeated rejected commands, or a mismatch between sensor state and issued action.
- Unexpected outbound connections, DNS changes, new certificates, or data transfers from a controller or gateway.
- Loss of safety telemetry, disabled alarms, clock changes, or attempts to erase logs.
Monitoring must support the operator, not create an unmanageable flood of alerts. Start with events that indicate authority, configuration change, safety-limit alteration, or a transition toward physical action, then tune thresholds using normal operating patterns.
8. Protect the equipment physically
An attacker who reaches a maintenance port, removable-media slot, reset button, or console may bypass network controls. Place controllers, gateways, storage, and network equipment in secured rooms or containers when the risk warrants it. Use keys, locks, combinations, or card readers; record access and remove access promptly when personnel change roles. Restrict removable media and scan it before use on an OT asset.
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9. Buy devices with security requirements written into the contract
Security is difficult to add after a device is installed in a live process. Before purchase, require the supplier to answer specific questions and provide evidence rather than relying on general claims.
| Requirement | Questions to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Support life | What are the end dates for firmware, operating-system, controller, and model support? How are end-of-support notices delivered? | Unsupported components accumulate unfixable exposure and may force unsafe emergency replacement. |
| Authentication | Are unique accounts, multifactor authentication, certificates, role-based permissions, and credential rotation supported? | Shared or unchangeable credentials make remote takeover easier to hide and contain. |
| Updates | How are updates signed, tested, delivered, rolled back, and logged? Can the owner refuse an update during a critical operation? | Update integrity and operational control must coexist. |
| Logging | Which access, configuration, model, command, and safety events are recorded, retained, exported, and time-synchronized? | Without usable records, detection and investigation are speculative. |
| Vulnerability handling | Where are advisories reported? What response times, disclosure practices, and remediation commitments apply? | A clear process reduces the delay between discovery and containment. |
| Physical security | Can ports be disabled or locked? Are secure boot, tamper evidence, protected storage, and removable-media controls available? | Network defenses cannot compensate for unrestricted local access. |
| Remote support | Can vendor access be disabled by the owner, limited to approved windows, authenticated with MFA, recorded, and independently revoked? | Support pathways are privileged pathways and need owner control. |
CISA’s IoT acquisition guidance, revised December 17, 2020, provides useful procurement context for connected devices that can affect the physical world. Put the answers, update obligations, notification duties, and access restrictions in the purchase and maintenance agreements.
10. Choose controls according to the operating context
No single control is sufficient, and the strongest-looking control can be harmful if it interrupts a process without a tested fallback. Compare candidate measures against the actual operation.
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|---|---|---|
| Safety impact | Could the control delay an emergency action, remove a safety function, or trigger an abrupt stop? | Test with the safety authority and provide a manual or independent fallback. |
| Exposure reduction | Does it remove public reachability, narrow allowed paths, or reduce privilege? | Prefer eliminating exposure before adding detection. |
| Reliability and availability | What happens if authentication, DNS, the jump host, cloud service, or monitoring system fails? | Design local operation and recovery for dependency outages. |
| Monitoring ability | Can the action be logged, time-stamped, reviewed, and correlated with physical events? | Do not approve an opaque pathway for high-impact commands. |
| Maintainability | Can staff patch, rotate credentials, test backups, and recover without unsafe improvisation? | Choose controls the team can operate consistently. |
| Recovery | How quickly must the process return to a safe, verified state, and what data or configurations are needed? | Protect offline copies and rehearse restoration before an incident. |
11. Respond when takeover or unsafe behavior is suspected
- Protect people first. Use the established emergency-stop, isolation, or manual-control procedure; do not experiment with remote commands while people are exposed.
- Declare the incident and preserve authority. Identify the incident lead, safety lead, operations lead, and security lead. Record the time and the physical state before changing configurations.
- Contain the access path. Disable suspected accounts, revoke sessions and tokens, isolate the jump host or gateway, and block malicious destinations. Preserve a safe local control path.
- Verify the process independently. Compare sensor readings, controller state, model and configuration hashes, physical indicators, and operator observations. Assume a single dashboard may be manipulated.
- Recover from known-good components. Restore firmware, controller logic, models, credentials, and configuration from protected copies, then validate limits and interlocks before reconnecting.
- Reauthorize normal operation. Require both security and operational or safety approval. Document what was changed, what remains uncertain, and what monitoring is intensified.
- Learn and improve. Review the initial access, permissions, detection time, containment effects, and recovery dependency failures. Update the map, procedures, training, and procurement requirements.
12. Maintain the program instead of treating it as a one-time setup
Recheck the inventory whenever a device, model, controller, network link, vendor, or operating mode changes. Review accounts and remote-access permissions on a defined schedule and after personnel changes. Test restoration and the loss-of-connectivity behavior under controlled conditions. Exercise incident procedures with operators, not only with the security team.
Keep the final architecture, safety analysis, approved command list, operating envelope, support contacts, software and model records, backups, and recovery steps together. That documentation lets a new operator understand which actions are safe, which pathways are privileged, and which decisions require specialist approval.
What a defensible baseline looks like
A defensible physical-AI deployment has no unnecessary public exposure; unique, multifactor-protected identities; a monitored jump path for approved remote work; segmented control and management networks; current, supported software; authenticated and reviewable model and configuration changes; independent safety limits; defined responses to untrusted inputs and outages; protected physical equipment; and rehearsed recovery from known-good copies.
These measures reduce the chance that a remote compromise becomes an unsafe physical action, while preserving the reliability and availability that the process requires. The final safeguards and safe state must come from the device-specific architecture, operating context, and safety analysis—not from a generic checklist.
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