Case Study · Energy & Utilities

Zero-trust cuts threat
containment to 2.1 seconds.

A UK national utility operator replaces legacy perimeter security with TechProf's AI-driven zero-trust platform — achieving 98.7% autonomous threat triage, eliminating critical infrastructure exposure, and reducing security operating costs by 41%.

Zero-Trust Architecture AI SIEM/SOAR OT Security SCADA Protection CNI Compliance NIS2 Ready
2.1s
Threat containment time

Down from a 47-minute baseline. Autonomous isolation, quarantine, and incident logging — without human intervention.

98.7%
Autonomous threat triage

AI classifies and responds to 98.7% of security events with no human action required, freeing the SOC team for strategic threat hunting.

41%
Security cost reduction

Consolidation of 14 point-security tools into one unified platform, plus reduced SOC headcount requirement, drove 41% operational savings.

0
Critical breaches post-deployment

Zero successful intrusions into operational technology systems in 14 months of live operation — across 3 UK energy generation sites.

Challenge & Solution

The threat. The shield.

01 · Challenge

Legacy perimeter security left critical infrastructure exposed to nation-state threats

The client operated three UK energy generation facilities under the National Cyber Security Centre's Critical National Infrastructure designation. Their security posture was built on perimeter firewalls installed in 2014 — with no micro-segmentation, no OT/IT boundary enforcement, and no behavioural analytics on internal traffic.

A 2024 NCSC advisory identified active nation-state reconnaissance against UK energy infrastructure matching the client's profile. Threat intelligence showed lateral movement tools pre-positioned inside the OT network. The IT security team was triaging 4,200+ alerts per day manually — at a 47-minute average response time.

Regulatory exposure was equally severe: NIS2 transposition into UK law, combined with incoming CNI security baseline obligations, required material improvements within 12 months or face potential operational licence review.

02 · Solution

AI-native zero-trust with autonomous OT/IT segmentation and SOAR response

TechProf architected a zero-trust framework across all three sites in parallel. Every network identity — device, user, and service — was reclassified and issued micro-perimeter policies. OT and IT networks were fully segmented at Layer 3 with policy-based inspection at every boundary crossing.

The SIEM layer was replaced with a purpose-built AI model trained on 18 months of client telemetry and enriched with TechProf's proprietary energy-sector threat intelligence feed. The model classifies threats in under 200ms with 98.7% confidence before passing to the SOAR automation layer.

The SOAR playbook library — 340 automated response workflows — handles containment, quarantine, evidence preservation, and regulatory notification autonomously. Critical asset isolation takes 2.1 seconds from initial detection to network cut. The SOC team receives a complete remediation dossier, not an alert to act on.

Delivery Approach

Live across three sites
in 22 weeks.

Weeks 1–5
Threat Landscape & Asset Discovery

Full asset inventory across OT/IT boundary, active threat intelligence assessment, NCSC CNI gap analysis, zero-trust policy design.

Weeks 6–12
Micro-segmentation & Identity Layer

Zero-trust network architecture deployed site-by-site; device identity certificates issued; OT protocol inspection (Modbus, DNP3, IEC 61850) enabled.

Weeks 13–18
AI SIEM Training & SOAR Buildout

18-month telemetry ingestion, AI model training, 340 SOAR playbooks written and tested. Parallel run with legacy SIEM for validation.

Weeks 19–22
Cutover & Regulatory Assurance

Full cutover with 72-hour hypercare, legacy tool decommission, NCSC CAF self-assessment submission, NIS2 compliance documentation delivered.

"We went from a team drowning in 4,000 alerts a day to a system that handles 98% of them without waking anyone up. The NCSC reviewed our new posture and called it a model for the sector. TechProf didn't just fix our security — they fundamentally changed how we think about resilience."

SC
S. Connolly
CISO, UK National Energy Operator (NDA)
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