One of the oldest battles in the corporate world is the one fought between the engineering department and the finance department. On one side, you have security professionals warning about imminent threats, vulnerabilities, and the catastrophic potential of a breach. On the other hand, you have executives and accountants looking at a spreadsheet, trying to balance the books and asking for a tangible Return on Investment (ROI) for invisible shields. This disconnect is particularly acute in the industrial sector, where Operational Technology (OT) is the backbone of production but often viewed as a cost centre rather than a strategic asset. Kaspersky is attempting to bridge this communication gap with its newly launched OT Cybersecurity Savings Calculator.
The Disconnect Between Risk and Revenue
For industrial organisations—whether in manufacturing, energy, or logistics—the convergence of IT and OT has been a double-edged sword. While interconnected systems drive efficiency and data visibility, they also open the door to cyber threats that were previously physically impossible. The stakes are incredibly high. According to VDC Research, over 60% of industrial companies reported that cybersecurity breaches led to high costs in the last year alone.
Despite these alarming statistics, a persistent misalignment remains between those who manage the machines and those who manage the money. Security teams are laser-focused on minimising operational risk and ensuring uptime. In contrast, executive leadership is often juggling these concerns against broader business objectives, market expansion, and shareholder value. This often results in a stalemate where vital security initiatives are underfunded simply because the technical team cannot articulate the financial risk in a language that resonates with the C-suite.
Translating Technical Risk into Financial Logic
Kaspersky’s new online tool is designed specifically to address this friction. The OT Cybersecurity Savings Calculator acts as a translator, converting abstract cyber risks into concrete financial metrics. It moves the conversation away from “we need this firewall to stop this specific malware” to “if we don’t invest in this, the potential financial impact is X amount based on our industry peers.”
The tool functions by asking users to input specific details about their organisation. This includes the business sector, sub-sector, geographical region, company size, recent breach history, and the current state of their cybersecurity measures. It is not a generic, one-size-fits-all estimator. By tailoring the inputs, the calculator attempts to provide a forecast that is relevant to the specific realities of that business.
Once the data is processed, the tool offers detailed financial forecasts that allow senior management to make informed decisions. It estimates potential cost savings that could be realised through better security posture and provides customised, actionable recommendations. This empowers OT leaders to walk into budget meetings with data-driven business cases rather than just fear-based anecdotes.
Benchmarking Against the Competition
Beyond just internal forecasting, the calculator offers a comparative perspective. It benchmarks the user’s organisation against industry peers, highlighting where the company stands within the current threat landscape. This is a crucial feature for decision-makers who are often driven by competitive analysis. Knowing that your organisation is significantly more exposed than a direct competitor can be a powerful motivator for approving budget allocation.
Andrey Strelkov, the Head of Industrial Cybersecurity Product Line at Kaspersky, notes that the tool is intended to transform complex cyber risk data into straightforward financial insights. By providing actionable guidance, it promotes a more comprehensive approach to resource management, ensuring that investments are directed where they will have the most significant impact on organisational resilience.
Expanding the Scope Beyond Industry
While the spotlight is currently on the industrial sector with this new release, Kaspersky acknowledges that the need for financial justification exists across all verticals. The company also offers a parallel tool, the IT Security Calculator, which is designed for non-industrial sectors. Much like its OT counterpart, this tool assesses average cybersecurity budgets and security measures, allowing businesses in finance, retail, and services to gauge their spending against the market average.
Ultimately, these tools represent a shift in how cybersecurity is sold and purchased. It is no longer enough to simply offer protection; vendors must now help their clients articulate the value of that protection in dollars and cents. For the Malaysian industrial sector, which is rapidly digitising under various Industry 4.0 initiatives, having a mechanism to financially quantify cyber risk could be the key to ensuring that security keeps pace with innovation. By aligning the technical reality of the factory floor with the financial reality of the boardroom, tools like this help ensure that resilience is treated as a business imperative rather than just an IT expense.
