The global cyber battlespace has fundamentally shifted. Operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and public utility networks, from municipal water distribution to maritime trade corridors, have emerged as a growing front in global power competition. Nation-state actors and state-aligned adversaries no longer focus solely on immediate data exfiltration. Instead, they target operational systems to establish persistent footholds and gain long-term strategic leverage.
Recent campaigns illustrate how operational infrastructure can be targeted to shape geopolitical outcomes before kinetic conflict occurs:
Threat actors routinely exploit open-source repositories, developer tools, and routine cloud integrations. By compromising a single widely used software package, attackers can extend access across downstream government and national security networks, bypassing traditional perimeter defenses.
Small and mid-sized businesses and other commercial partners may have fewer cybersecurity resources while still maintaining trusted digital connections to federal entities. Supply chain breaches demonstrate how adversaries can exploit trusted relationships to reach more sensitive environments.
Threat groups leverage AI to accelerate credential harvesting and social engineering against organizations outside traditional critical infrastructure sectors. Once a foothold is established in a lower-risk environment, attackers can extract OAuth tokens, system credentials, or proprietary data that can support further access to sensitive systems or infrastructure.
Compromising non-CIKR networks can put national security at risk by masking adversary reconnaissance and enabling the cyber kill chain long before an attack reaches critical operational technology or mission networks. These indirect intrusions allow adversaries to establish persistent footholds, conduct prolonged espionage, and pre-position malware that could disrupt mission readiness or supply chains during geopolitical crises.
Markon sees this as a shared vulnerability across the cyber landscape. Drawing on our work with federal, state, and local partners, we are advancing capabilities to better understand and address this risk. Closing this gap remains a focus of our research as we work to strengthen operational resilience and protect mission-critical environments.
Defending against these multi-stage intrusions requires looking beyond perimeter controls to understand and disrupt adversary activity in IT and OT environments. Defenders are better positioned to disrupt attacks when they understand how adversaries conduct reconnaissance, gain access, move across IT and OT environments, and progress toward operational disruption.
As a mission integrator, Markon applies deep kill-chain intelligence to strengthen defensive posture and secure critical environments:
Markon analyzes adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) across each stage of the attack lifecycle. Using platforms such as Hydra™, a deployable, full-stack cyber operations infrastructure, defensive teams model complex IT/OT network architectures, analyze adversary movement, and test interdiction strategies in realistic environments.
Bridging the gap between enterprise IT and physical operations, Markon’s REMUS™ solution is a cyber-physical logical twin that uses hypergraph modeling to map complex operational dependencies, simulate threat impacts, and detect anomalies earlier in the attack sequence across cloud, on-premises, and air-gapped environments. To streamline security tracking, Markon integrates its TECTIX™ solution to enable Risk Management Framework (RMF) automation and compliance monitoring.
Markon offers integrated capabilities that enhance operational readiness and compliance monitoring. Through products, continuous monitoring, and regularly updated training, Markon helps defenders recognize evolving threats and maintain preparedness across mission areas.
Supported by tools such as ShadowView™ for threat hunting and digital footprint analysis, and ShadowBreach™ for automated breach simulation, Markon provides continuous situational awareness and vulnerability intelligence.
Markon delivers integrated cyber operations, engineering, and defensive capabilities across national security missions, with expertise in training, red teaming, blue teaming, and cyber operations simulation.
Markon’s integrated full-spectrum cyber capabilities help address vulnerabilities across interconnected vendor, enterprise, and operational environments. By strengthening visibility and readiness across the attack lifecycle, national security partners are better positioned to identify threats earlier and protect operational continuity.
Markon will be at the 2026 National Cyber Summit on September 22–24 in Huntsville, AL. Visit Booth 402 to meet our team and explore how Markon’s full-spectrum cyber capabilities help safeguard critical systems, enabling mission teams to stay ready and operate with confidence.