European automotive and logistics suppliers are accelerating investment in operational technology (OT) security controls and private 5G infrastructure as NIS2 enforcement pressure intensifies across the EU in 2025. The directive, which came into force in January 2023, marks a decisive shift in how digital risk is governed across critical sectors, including transport and automotive manufacturing. With supervisory activity now underway and financial penalties reaching tens of millions of euros, compliance is forcing a structural overhaul of how production networks are secured.
Regulatory Background
The directive took effect in late 2024, establishing a new benchmark for cybersecurity across Europe's critical sectors. For manufacturers-especially those producing high-risk products such as industrial machinery or automotive components-NIS2 represents a significant regulatory wake-up call. The directive explicitly expands its scope to cover both IT systems and operational technology (OT).
EU Member States were required to transpose NIS2 into national law by October 17, 2024. Implementation status varies: Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, and Slovakia have enacted NIS2 legislation, while Germany and France are still finalizing their national laws. The European Commission has launched infringement proceedings against member states that missed the deadline. Germany's transposition law-the NIS2UmsuCG-was delayed by federal elections; the bill must be re-approved by the new Bundestag, with final approval currently projected for the second half of 2025.
What makes NIS2 particularly impactful is its emphasis on the supply chain. It does not merely target OEMs; it places direct and indirect obligations on every level of the supply ecosystem, from Tier 1 to Tier 3 suppliers and beyond.
Compliance Requirements and Penalties
Unlike the original NIS Directive, NIS2 introduces stronger enforcement powers for national authorities, including regular audits, security inspections, binding instructions, and administrative fines of up to €10 million or 2% of global annual turnover-whichever is higher. Executives are personally liable: NIS2 places direct responsibility on senior management. If an organization fails to implement proper cybersecurity measures, executives can face fines, legal action, or temporary bans from management roles.
For OT environments specifically, meeting NIS2's 24/72-hour incident reporting window is practically impossible using manual audits alone, given that legacy OT systems were built for availability rather than logging or alerting. Compliance demands a shift toward automation and continuous visibility-deploying monitoring tools that provide real-time oversight of OT networks and feed into centralized security operations centers.
Manufacturers are expected to implement continuous risk management processes tailored to OT environments, including:
- Identifying vulnerabilities in both legacy and modern systems
- Maintaining detailed inventories of devices and data flows
- Deploying controls such as network segmentation and anomaly detection
For automotive-sector suppliers, the TISAX framework, developed by the European automotive association ENX, continues to gain momentum as more manufacturers adopt it to demonstrate NIS2-aligned security controls. ENISA has released updated resources mapping NIS2 obligations to global cybersecurity frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF, and IEC 62443, offering a clearer picture of what practical implementation looks like in OT/ICS environments.1How Private 5G networks and IFPP are powering next wave of Industrial IoT - IOT Insider
Private 5G as a Compliance Enabler
Private 5G is emerging as a key infrastructure layer supporting NIS2-driven security requirements and as the preferred wireless backbone for smart factories. In 2025, approximately 38% of global Tier-1 manufacturing enterprises had either deployed or piloted a private 5G network, up from 12% in 2022.
Private wireless networks are built with security as a core design principle, offering strong encryption and physical separation from public networks. Combined with edge computing that keeps sensitive data on-site, they create a layered security architecture. Private 5G and edge computing work in tandem to bring data processing and decision-making closer to the source, delivering the speed, reliability, and secure performance modern manufacturing demands.
Private 5G brings strong built-in protections, but security outcomes ultimately depend on governance. Factories adopting private 5G must strengthen identity management, SIM and eSIM lifecycle handling, OT-IT segmentation policies, and anomaly detection.
According to Palo Alto Networks' 2024 State of OT Security report, 70% of industrial organizations experienced a cyberattack on their OT environment in the last year, with 25% of these leading to operational shutdowns. The threat context compounds that urgency: in Q2 2025, global cyberattacks rose approximately 21% versus the same period the prior year, with Europe recording the highest region-level increase.
Outlook
As of 2025, several EU Member States have published detailed NIS2 security requirements, and implementation is actively underway across critical sectors.2On-premise edge and private 5G key to industrial AI and security The directive also envisions a European certification scheme-currently under development-for cloud services, 5G, consumer IoT, and industrial infrastructures; the industrial scheme will likely derive from ISA/IEC 62443. Suppliers that cannot demonstrate a documented security roadmap and verifiable OT controls risk market exclusion, as OEMs rapidly reassess cybersecurity posture across their supply networks and face requirements to demonstrate ongoing oversight of third-party cybersecurity risks.3NIS2 Compliance for IoT and OT: What Most Organizations Are Getting Wrong
