Strong Foundations: Why Builders Must Embrace Device Hardening

In the world of construction, complexity is the norm. From project sites scattered across geographies to legacy OT systems integrated with modern cloud environments, these sectors rely on a mix of infrastructure that demands more than traditional cybersecurity can offer. Amid growing threats, misconfigurations remain one of the most overlooked — and dangerous — vulnerabilities.

Enter GYTPOL. A configuration security and policy enforcement platform built to deliver continuous compliance, proactive hardening, and risk mitigation in even the most complex, distributed environments.

Why Configuration Hygiene Matters

Most breaches don’t begin with malware — they start with a misstep. An outdated Windows machine. An unsecured RDP port. A disabled security setting that nobody noticed.

In high-risk, high-value industries like construction and engineering, even minor misconfigurations can snowball into operational nightmares or costly breaches.

A 2024 GlobalData report noted that the construction industry became the third most targeted sector for ransomware, largely due to its complex supply chains, widespread use of legacy technology, and low adoption of configuration management tools.

ReliaQuest’s 2024 Threat Report shows a 41% year-over-year increase in construction sector organizations disclosing ransomware data-leak sites, highlighting escalating targeting of construction firms — often driven by credential exposure and misconfiguration-related weaknesses.

Of course, stats are what they are. It's really stories that command attention for most people. So here's a story for you...

In May 2020, Interserve — an international engineering firm — suffered a cyberattack. While initially triggered by a phishing-triggered malware download, the breach was exacerbated by legacy infrastructure, obsolete firewall/protocol configurations, and poor IT hygiene.

Investigation by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found the firm was running multiple unsupported operating systems (Windows Server 2003 and 2008 R2) and deprecated protocols like SMBv1. They also had no effective monitoring of firewall or policy configuration, lack of visibility into alerts, and excessive privileges in their Active Directory. 

As a result, attackers were able to move laterally through hundreds of systems, deploy ransomware, and steal employee/customer data.

Total cost exceeded £11 million (approximately $12M USD), including a £4.4M fine from the ICO, legal costs, forensic investigation, and lost operational productivity.

Though the breach occurred in 2020, penalties were only fully assessed and levied in 2022, the same year the company ceased operations. 

This incident illustrates how misconfigurations and outdated system configurations — not just malware sophistication — can drive severe breach outcomes in engineering and construction firms.

Doing Better Demands a Better Digital Foreman

Outdated security stacks are an important part of the story. But it's only part of it. There's also the problem of outdated attitudes and thinking — seeing security as a reactive IT issue, rather than a matter of proactive operational resilience. Or treating legacy infrastructure as "untouchable" due to fear of disruption.

It's thinking that may once have been prevailing wisdom, but today ignores the advances made in dependency-aware security. These outdated habits undermine modernization efforts and leave organizations exposed to evolving threats. 

The truth may be inconvenient, but it's the truth just the same: if your legacy mindset treats misconfiguration as “low-risk,” you’re building on a cracked foundation.

Thankfully, you can fill those cracks and strengthen your foundation without need for a wrecking ball. Fundamentally, it really only requires 3 primary pillars of support:

1. Centralized Oversight Across Diverse Device Types

From Windows laptops at HQ to SCADA systems in the field, GYTPOL delivers centralized visibility into the configuration health of every device. It bridges silos between IT and OT teams, enabling a unified strategy for hardening systems across:

• Multiple operating systems

• Different vendor environments

• Both modern and legacy infrastructure

2. Continuous Context-Aware Risk Detection

Configuration drift is a silent risk — and in high-stakes industries, silence can be deadly. GYTPOL continuously monitors for misconfigurations in real time, identifying would-be weaknesses before they become active threats.

Better still, GYTPOL pinpoints any operation intersection points where changes could have a downstream impact on functionality.  If there are no such intersection points, GYTPOL gives you the "all clear" and designates the action as a quick win.

3. Safe, Push-Button Remediation

Visibility is key, but it's also entirely inconsequential without action. At GYTPOL, alerts are predicated on superior visibility but are fully calibrated for action. Which is why every detected issue is automatically teed up to be remediated with a click.

Recurring issues? You can lock those down with Auto-Reapply.

Things you might have overlooked? We have Autonomous Recommendations for that.

Sensitive production windows? There's Smart Scheduling for that.

And should things go sideways despite your best efforts? Well, you can always Click-to-Rollback.

These capabilities systematically dismantle any excuses, procrastination, and doubts that would allow risks to accumulate and technical debt to build. 

Coverage, Interoperability, and Workflows

Construction and engineering firms come with all different infrastructure and architecture designs; and at different stages in their modernization journeys. It's crucial therefore that the security stack not worsen the problem by building islands of visibility and control.

Effective solutions must provide centralized, interoperable oversight over various operating systems, device types, vendor ecosystems, and infrastructure categories. This is especially true for organizations with large, fleets of IT and OT devices spread out across multiple domains as well as on-premises and cloud environments.

GYTPOL supports IT and OT devices, both physical and virtual, workstation and servers, running Windows, Linux, or Mac operating systems as well as Kubernetes instances. 

Of course, there's always a bit of a learning curve with new tools. And workflow entrenchment can derail even the best plans. Which is why smart innovators find ways to seamlessly integrate with technologies you already use.  And GYTPOL is no exception. Through integrations with platforms like Forescout, Claroty, Armis, and CrowdStrike Falcon, GYTPOL delivers enriched insights and expanded controls.

And whether you're just looking to improve your cyber posture or to assure compliance with ISO/IEC 27001, GYTPOL makes life easy. With continuous compliance monitoring and hygiene enablement, GYTPOL ensures your policies are not just defined, but optimized and enforced.

The upshot? No learning curve, more accurate asset risk profiles, unified IT/OT command & control, faster incident response, constant audit readiness, and significantly less human error.

Reduce Your Attack Surface —Without Halting Progress

Construction and engineering teams can't afford to stop building just to patch a configuration issue. GYTPOL empowers them to secure configurations without disruption, reducing the endpoint attack surface by up to 35% — a measurable impact in environments where uptime and safety are paramount.

Construction and engineering are industries that literally shape the world. But in shaping the physical, these organizations can’t afford to neglect the digital. Configuration security is not optional — it’s the bedrock of resilience.