Houston is home to one of the densest concentrations of industrial control systems on earth. Refineries and petrochemical plants line the Ship Channel, midstream operators run thousands of miles of pipeline out of downtown control rooms, LNG terminals load tankers along the Gulf Coast and the Port of Houston moves cargo through automated cranes and terminal systems. Every one of those sites depends on PLCs, DCS platforms, SCADA networks and safety systems that were designed for reliability, not for hostile networks.
Attacks on operational technology are no longer theoretical. Pipeline operators now work under the TSA pipeline security directives, maritime facilities must meet Coast Guard cybersecurity rules, and attackers are using AI to map exposed industrial devices and research control system weaknesses faster than defenders can patch them. Patching is hard in OT, where a plant may run the same controller for decades, so the work depends on specialists who understand process safety as well as networks.
The OT and ICS security companies in Houston below are headquartered in the metro or run a staffed Houston office, and each lists OT or industrial security services on its own site. They cover ICS penetration testing, IEC 62443 assessments, monitoring, compliance and maritime OT security. For national specialists in offensive OT work, see our list of OT and ICS penetration testing companies.
Houston OT And ICS Security Companies At A Glance
Company
Headquarters
Best For
Core Services
Red Trident
Houston, USA
Upstream, midstream and downstream operators that want hands-on OT assessments and pentests
OT asset discovery, vulnerability and risk assessments, OT pentests, remediation, monitoring, IR, training
Armexa
Houston, USA
Refineries, chemical plants and LNG facilities that want OT risk tied to process safety
3D OT assessments, CyberHAZOP, segmentation, cyber FAT, IRIS Operations Platform, TSA and MTSA compliance
Dragos
Washington, DC, USA (Houston office)
Large energy and chemical companies that want an OT platform plus assessment services
OT cybersecurity assessments, network security testing, red team, tabletop exercises, OT monitoring platform
ABS Consulting
Spring, USA
Oil, gas, chemical and marine operators that want risk engineering plus a 24/7 industrial SOC
OT risk assessments, standards-based assessments, program development, regulatory compliance, ISOC
SecurityGate
Houston, USA
Multi-site operators that need to run and track OT risk assessments at scale
USCG Subpart F cyber plans, MTSA physical security, fractional CySO, IR drills, ccSentinel platform
ITEGRITI
Houston, USA
Electric utilities, generators and oil and gas operators with NERC CIP obligations
NERC CIP assessments and remediation, OT risk assessments, BES Cyber Asset inventory, IR tabletops
Acet Solutions
Katy, USA (US office)
Operators with sites in the US and the Middle East that want OT VAPT plus a managed SOC
OT asset inventory, gap assessments, OT VAPT, CSMS development, hardening, managed OT SOC, IR
Best OT And ICS Security Companies In Houston For 2027
1. Red Trident — OT-Only Firm For Upstream, Midstream And Downstream Sites
Red Trident is an OT cybersecurity company headquartered on Park Ten Place in west Houston. It was founded in 2014 with a dedicated focus on OT, and opened a European office at the HSD Campus in The Hague in 2022. Its services follow a full cycle: Advise, Assess (asset discovery, vulnerability assessments, threat models, risk assessments and pentests), Fix and Remediate, Monitor, Respond and Training. It serves oil and gas, chemical, electric power, water and wastewater, manufacturing, government and maritime systems.
Red Trident’s oil and gas work is notably practical. For dispersed upstream and midstream assets such as well pads, tank batteries, compressor stations and custody transfer points, it uses existing documentation and field technicians to cut down site visits during asset discovery. Its risk assessments put a dollar value on each control, which helps engineering managers argue for budget. It works with NIST 800-82, IEC 62443 and API 1164, helps operators covered by the federal pipeline security directives, and lists SDVOSB status. It is a strong first call for a Houston operator that wants testers who will walk the site.
2. Armexa — CyberHAZOP Assessments For Plants, Pipelines And LNG
Armexa is an industrial cybersecurity firm headquartered on Briarpark Drive in Houston’s Westchase district. Its assessment catalog includes 3D OT cybersecurity assessments, CyberHAZOP, CyberBowtie, validated system design reviews, gap and maturity assessments and program reviews. Engineering services cover cyber factory acceptance testing, firewall validation, network segmentation, network documentation and device vulnerability and obsolescence reviews, and it runs staff support services and the IRIS Operations Platform.
Armexa’s CyberHAZOP and CyberBowtie methods borrow the hazard analysis language that plant engineers already use, so cyber risks are scored alongside process safety risks rather than in a separate IT report. That makes findings easier to act on in a refinery or chemical plant. The firm offers specialty programs for TSA pipeline security directives compliance, MTSA compliance and maritime OT security, small facilities and Emerson DeltaV security. It serves oil and gas, LNG terminals and ships, chemicals, power, manufacturing, and food and beverage, and it was named No. 846 on the 2026 Inc. 5000.
3. Dragos — OT Assessments And Red Teaming From A Houston Office
Dragos is a national industrial cybersecurity company that opened a Houston office on Summer Street to support its growing customer and employee base in the South and to serve as a more central location for its nationwide training. Its assessment services include the xOT Cybersecurity Assessment suite, network security testing services, design reviews that check alignment with TSA pipeline rules, NIST, ISO and NERC CIP, red team services and OT tabletop exercises.
Dragos is best known for its OT monitoring platform and threat intelligence on groups that target industrial systems, and its services team draws on that research. For a large Houston operator, that means the people assessing a plant understand how known threat groups have attacked similar sites. Dragos also publishes industry-specific programs for oil and gas and for chemicals. It suits enterprises with multiple sites that want platform, intelligence and assessments from one vendor. Smaller operators may find the Houston-founded specialists above more flexible on scope and budget.
4. ABS Consulting — OT Risk Assessments Plus An Industrial SOC
ABS Consulting is the risk consulting arm of ABS Group, headquartered on City Plaza Drive in Spring, north of Houston. For oil, gas and chemical facilities it lists risk advisory services, strategic risk assessments, OT cybersecurity program development, standards-based assessments, regulatory compliance, OT cybersecurity assessments, OT-specific security training and government-only cybersecurity services. It also runs an Industrial Security Operations Center for 24/7 cyber risk monitoring and real-time alerts.
ABS Consulting’s background in safety and reliability engineering for the energy and marine sectors shows in how it frames OT security as operational risk. It has partnered with Dragos and Nozomi Networks on OT defenses and monitoring, so its SOC can work with the detection tools many plants already run. It is a good fit for an operator that wants a single partner for cyber risk assessment, compliance and ongoing monitoring across refineries, terminals, offshore assets or vessels, and that values a firm used to working with insurers and regulators.
5. SecurityGate — OT Risk Assessment Platform With 40+ Frameworks
SecurityGate is a Houston software company headquartered on Post Oak Boulevard, with European offices in Milan and London. Its platform handles OT cybersecurity risk management for critical infrastructure: OT and ICS risk assessments, IEC 62443 workflows, third-party risk management, remediation and validation tracking, reporting and business impact analysis. It supports more than 40 frameworks out of the box, including NERC CIP, IEC 62443, NIST CSF and TSA directives, and offers pre-assessment, guided assessment and post-assessment services.
SecurityGate solves a problem most OT consultancies do not: keeping hundreds of site assessments consistent and tracking whether fixes actually happen. A large operator can run the same assessment across every plant, terminal and compressor station, compare scores and report progress to leadership and regulators. The company names Chevron, Indorama and Westlake Chemical among its customers and says the platform runs on six continents. It is best for multi-site energy, chemical and utility companies that already have assessors, internal or external, and need one system of record for OT risk.
6. UTSI International — Pipeline SCADA Engineering Plus OT Security And TSA Tabletops
UTSI International is a control systems and pipeline consulting firm headquartered on Fannin Street in downtown Houston. Its OT cybersecurity service covers tailored audits and assessments with a remediation roadmap, AI-assisted mapping of assets, communication paths and access protocols, continuous monitoring and segmentation, fractional OT CISO services, incident response planning and playbooks, and regulatory work including gap assessments, EU CRA assessments and the vulnerability assessment work TSA requires.
UTSI’s assessments reference ISA/IEC 62443, NIST CSF, SP 800-82 and ISO/IEC 27019, and it runs tabletop exercises tailored to TSA or FEMA incident command requirements without operational downtime. What makes it different is that security sits beside pipeline applications consulting, ICS and SCADA modernization and its LeakGeek leak detection algorithm, so the team understands how a pipeline SCADA system is supposed to behave. It suits midstream operators that want TSA pipeline security directives support from people who have built control rooms, not only secured them.
7. Everline — SCADA, Control Center And OT SOC For Midstream And Utilities
Everline is a Houston-headquartered firm with further offices in Denver, Bakersfield and El Paso. Its Secure line covers operational security programs, detailed assessments, standards compliance, SOC services and incident response, delivered by OT security staff. Its Advise line handles regulatory compliance, including jurisdictional determinations, compliance plans, audit support and operating assets under PHMSA, NERC and state requirements.
Everline also designs, integrates and supports SCADA systems and OT networks, and offers 24×7 third-party control center monitoring. That combination is unusual. A small or mid-sized pipeline, gas utility or renewable operator can hand one firm its SCADA support, its control room monitoring, its regulatory paperwork and its OT security, rather than coordinating four vendors who each see part of the picture. It serves gas, power and water utilities, wind, solar and storage, and midstream pipeline and station operators. It suits operators without a large in-house OT team.
Applied Security Convergence is a Sugar Land and Houston firm focused on maritime, defense and critical infrastructure operators along the Gulf, East and West Coasts. Its services include fractional and advisory CISO and CySO roles, combined cyber and physical security assessments including MTSA maritime physical security, USCG 33 CFR 101 Subpart F cybersecurity plans, facility security plans and multi-year roadmaps, incident response planning, tabletop exercises and drills, and role-based training.
For port OT security around Houston, this is the most targeted option on the list. Marine terminals, vessels, OCS facilities and ports must now meet Coast Guard cybersecurity requirements, and Applied Security Convergence built its own SaaS platform, ccSentinel, to automate Subpart F compliance. It ingests scan data from tools such as Nessus and Rapid7, maps findings to the 15 Subpart F control areas and produces Coast Guard ready reports, free for organizations with up to three facilities and fewer than 200 endpoints. The firm also supports pipeline operators under TSA and PHMSA rules and offers maritime OT security training.
9. ITEGRITI — NERC CIP Compliance And OT Risk Assessments Since 2008
ITEGRITI is a critical infrastructure security firm with its office on Eldridge Parkway in west Houston and a Southeast regional office in Charlotte. Its core is NERC CIP: assessments, remediation and ongoing compliance support, with NERC CIP experience going back to 2008. It also performs IT and OT asset walkdowns, BES Cyber Asset inventory assessments, OT security risk assessments, internal IT and OT audit support, and incident readiness assessments and tabletop exercises.
Houston is home to many power generators, transmission operators and energy companies that run both power and oil and gas assets, and NERC CIP is the regulation most likely to produce fines if handled poorly. ITEGRITI’s team cites experience with ISA/IEC 62443 and NIST SP 800-82 alongside CIP, so it can bring the same discipline to non-regulated OT environments. It serves energy and utilities, oil and gas and health care. It is the right fit when the main driver is passing a NERC CIP audit and keeping evidence in order year round.
10. Acet Solutions — OT VAPT And Managed OT SOC From Katy And The Gulf
Acet Solutions is an OT cybersecurity and digital transformation provider whose US office sits on the Katy Freeway in Katy, west of Houston, with an R&D center in Richmond, Texas, and further offices across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Singapore and Nigeria. Its OT services cover assessment (asset inventory, gap and vulnerability assessments, risk analysis, maturity assessments and VAPT), design and implementation (CSMS development, policies, secure architecture, hardening and endpoint protection), maintenance, management and incident response.
Acet also runs a managed OT SOC that monitors vulnerabilities, assets, configurations, compliance and threats with threat intelligence, which gives a client one provider from first assessment through ongoing monitoring. Its industry list is broad: power and utilities, water, oil and gas, petrochemicals, mining, marine and ports, railways, airports and manufacturing. It suits Houston-based energy and petrochemical companies with operations in both the Gulf Coast and the Middle East that want the same OT security methods and team across regions.
How To Choose An OT And ICS Security Company In Houston
OT security mistakes can stop production or create a safety event, so vet providers carefully. These questions help.
Have Your People Worked Inside A Plant Or Control Room?
The best OT security consultants have engineering or operations backgrounds and know how a DCS, safety instrumented system or pipeline SCADA host behaves. Ask for the backgrounds of the people who will be on site, and for examples of projects at refineries, chemical plants, pipelines or terminals similar to yours. A strong IT security résumé is not enough on its own.
How Will ICS Penetration Testing Avoid Disrupting Operations?
ICS penetration testing must be planned around process safety. Ask how the firm limits active scanning on live controllers, whether it tests on lab or standby systems first, how it coordinates with operations and what its stop conditions are. Many Houston operators start with passive asset discovery and architecture review before any active testing.
Which Standards And Regulations Do You Work With?
Match the firm to your obligations. Pipeline operators need TSA pipeline security directives and API 1164 experience. Power companies need NERC CIP. Ports, terminals and vessels need Coast Guard Subpart F and MTSA knowledge. Most programs also benefit from IEC 62443 as a design and assessment framework. Ask how the firm maps findings to the specific requirements you report against.
Do We Need A Platform, A Consultancy Or Both?
Monitoring platforms and risk management software give you continuous visibility and a system of record. Consultancies bring people to assess, design and fix. Large multi-site operators usually need both, while a single-plant operator may get more value from a hands-on consultancy with a managed monitoring option.
Can You Help With IT And OT Together?
Many OT incidents start in the business network and move inward. Ask how the provider handles the boundary between IT and OT, and whether it works with your IT security partner. If you also need help on the corporate side, our list of cybersecurity consulting firms is a useful starting point.
Conclusion
Houston has OT security talent that most cities cannot match, from OT-only specialists such as Red Trident and Armexa to platform providers such as SecurityGate and maritime specialists such as Applied Security Convergence. Start with your regulatory driver and the type of assets you run, shortlist firms that have worked in similar plants or terminals, and insist on a testing plan that puts process safety first. For broader context on testing industrial systems, see our national list of penetration testing companies.
