Dragos, Inc. is an American cybersecurity company specializing in operational technology, or OT, and industrial control systems. Based in Hanover, Maryland, it serves organizations in sectors including energy, water, manufacturing, and oil and gas. Its positioning is based on a constraint specific to these environments: protecting networks without compromising operational continuity or the physical safety of facilities.
A company born from industrial network expertise
Dragos was founded in 2016 by Robert M. Lee, Jon Lavender and Justin Cavinee. Its roots lie in threat intelligence and the defense of industrial systems. Robert M. Lee, co-founder and chief executive, notably worked on critical infrastructure cybersecurity within the U.S. military.
The company has grown around an approach combining software, research into attackers and hands-on support for operators. Its public research on malicious groups and their methods contributes to its visibility in the industrial security ecosystem. This specialization sets it apart from generalist vendors: a programmable logic controller, a supervisory workstation or a process control system cannot always be protected with the same tools or procedures as a desktop computer.
Making OT environments visible and defensible
The Dragos platform aims to inventory industrial assets, analyze their communications and detect behaviors associated with threats. It also helps teams identify and prioritize vulnerabilities, taking the operational context into account. The goal is to give security leaders an actionable view of networks that are sometimes aging, heterogeneous and insufficiently documented.
This software offering is complemented by threat intelligence, security assessments, crisis management preparation and incident response services. Dragos also offers training for professionals responsible for defending industrial systems. Together, these offerings seek to bring IT teams, cybersecurity specialists and operations managers closer together, as their priorities and constraints may differ.
In these environments, immediately applying a patch or shutting down equipment is not always feasible. Defense therefore also relies on monitoring communications, network segmentation and tailored response procedures. Dragos positions its products and support within this risk-reduction approach, rather than merely accumulating alerts.
What next?
The growing connectivity of factories and infrastructure to IT systems is expanding the need to protect OT networks. For Dragos, the challenge is to turn specialized expertise into capabilities that can be used every day, including by organizations with limited resources. Regulatory requirements, particularly in Europe, are also increasing the attention paid to these risks. In a competitive market, its ability to integrate its tools into existing security systems and demonstrate their operational value will remain decisive.