Industrial Demilitarized Zone (IDMZ)
What is Industrial Demilitarized Zone (IDMZ)?
An IDMZ is a dedicated network layer between enterprise IT and the OT control network that brokers data and remote access through tightly controlled services, preventing direct connections to industrial assets.
Examples
- A reporting server in the IDMZ receives summarized historian data from OT and then publishes dashboards to IT users, with no direct IT access to PLCs or HMIs.
- All remote vendors first land on a jump host in the IDMZ with MFA and recording; from there, time-limited access is approved to Level 3 maintenance systems.
Discover 🔎
The Industrial DMZ (often called Level 3.5 in the Purdue Model) is a buffer network that separates business IT from the operational technology (OT) network. Instead of allowing direct paths to controllers and HMIs, the IDMZ hosts brokered services—jump hosts, data replication/reporting, and update staging—so information can flow safely without exposing real-time control systems.
Summary 📝
An IDMZ safely connects business needs to plant data by brokering access instead of exposing control networks. With strict allowlists, jump-host governance, data replication, and robust monitoring, it limits the blast radius of IT incidents and keeps real-time control isolated and reliable.
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