Axians has been contracted for a three-year mission to strengthen the cyber resilience of one of the Middle East's largest Oil & Gas operators. By protecting critical offshore production assets and securing both IT and OT environments, Axians cements its position as a trusted partner in today’s evolving cyber threats.

To ensure this mission, a team of 13 Axians cyber security consultants work directly within the operator’s environment: a global energy leader that runs several supergiant onshore and offshore fields, including natural gas sites with offshore multi-platform “super complexes” for processing and accommodation. It is also advancing digital transformation at scale, with hundreds of wells and facilities managed remotely through centralized control rooms. 

What makes this project particularly strategic is the consultants’ double expertise in IT and OT cyber security. In an industry where operational technology (OT) systems are at the heart of production processes, this dual capability is rare and decisive.

The main challenge is to secure a complex IT and OT environment. Applying a single cyber security policy across both is difficult, because IT and OT equipment differ significantly. Our consultants stand out because they have this double background, allowing them to apply cyber security measures effectively in both worlds. This expertise is very rare in the market.

Redha Boulfoul

Project Manager at Axians

The Axians consultants are fully integrated into the operator’s offshore and headquarters teams, delivering services across six critical domains: 

  • Network operation services: maintaining IT and OT network equipment such as switches and routers, ensuring availability and security of communications. 
  • Endpoint operation services: managing antivirus and endpoint protection solutions to safeguard users and devices. 
  • Systems & virtualization services: supporting and securing the virtualization platform, essential for creating and maintaining multiple virtual infrastructures. 
  • Monitoring & logging (SIEM) operation services: analyzing security logs to detect anomalies, investigate incidents, and prevent potential cyberattacks. 
  • IT/OT Cyber security Project Support Services, ensuring new projects comply with cyber security requirements and that contractors integrate the right solutions from the outset. 
  • Security risk & compliance services: conducting audits and applying international standards, notably ISO 27001 for IT and IEC 62443 for OT. 

This structured mission provides both technical operations (network, systems, endpoints, monitoring) and governance functions (risk, compliance, and project assurance). Together, they form a comprehensive cyber security framework tailored to the Oil & Gas sector. 

Unlike many players that specialize in one domain, Axians has developed a team with combined expertise in both IT for OT and traditional domains, allowing it to address projects that require hybrid skills. 

Finding profiles with both IT and OT knowledge is very difficult. At Axians, we have consultants who started in automation and later specialized in cyber security, and others who began in IT and gained OT expertise. This combination is what makes us unique and why our customer chose to trust us.

Redha Boulfoul

Project Manager at Axians

By embedding cyber security expertise directly into the offshore organization, Axians helps ensure continuity of production while reducing cyber risks.