IT for Petrochemical & Refining
The Houston Ship Channel is the largest petrochemical complex in the United States and one of the most consequential cybersecurity environments in the world. Refineries, chemical plants, terminals, and midstream operators must protect process control systems from ransomware and nation-state threats while satisfying TSA directives, ISA/IEC 62443, CFATS, and cyber insurance underwriting. LayerLogix delivers managed IT and OT cybersecurity services built for the unique demands of Gulf Coast petrochemical and refining operations.
Petrochemical & Refining · Inside the plant fence
Two networks, one plant, and a turnaround crew
Follow one refinery site from shift handover to startup: the business network, the control network, the DMZ between them, and the contractors who need access for a few weeks. Tap a lens or let it play.
Before & after · Inside the fence
Shift handover, a turnaround coming, and one flat network
Day shift takes the board, planners open email and the ERP, and turnaround trailers are filling up by the tank farm. On a lot of sites all of that rides one network. Flip to the zoned plant to see business, DMZ and control traffic pulled apart.
What LayerLogix does
- Walk the site with operations and map its networks and connections
- Split business and control networks with a DMZ between them
- Run the corporate office, the DMZ and the plant as one program
Stop 1 · Where business meets control
Planners get their numbers. Phishing stops at the DMZ.
Your planners need yesterday's rates and tank levels. Your plant doesn't need anyone's inbox. We put a copy of the historian data in a DMZ between the two networks, so the business side reads its numbers there and email traffic has no direct road down to the control network.
What LayerLogix does
- Design the DMZ and the conduits between business and control zones
- Mirror historian data up so reports don't reach into the plant
- Write firewall rules that allow named flows and deny the rest
Stop 2 · Patches and change control
Patches go in on the unit's schedule, not mid-shift
Control consoles and engineering workstations don't browse, don't read email and don't update themselves. A patch gets staged in the DMZ, tried on a spare machine, signed off by operations with a rollback plan, and installed in a window the unit agreed to.
What LayerLogix does
- Assess each patch for impact before it touches a plant machine
- Run change control with operations sign-off and rollback plans
- Plan redundancy for historians, alarm servers and workstations
Stop 3 · The turnaround crews arrive
Contractor access works like a work permit, end date included
A turnaround brings vendor engineers, instrument techs and crews you'll see for a few weeks. We issue their access the way your safety team issues permits: who, which unit, which systems, and when it ends. Plenty of crews only need contractor Wi-Fi. Pick one to see their scope.
What LayerLogix does
- Set up named, time-limited accounts for each contractor
- Scope access to the unit and systems on the work order
- Put contractor Wi-Fi on its own path to the internet only
Stop 4 · Vendor work, on the record
The vendor works through a gateway that records the session
No modem in a cabinet, no shared jump box. The DCS vendor's engineer signs in to an access gateway with MFA, lands only on the station named on the permit, and the whole session is recorded. If they reach for something that isn't on the permit, the gateway says no.
What LayerLogix does
- Replace legacy modems and unmanaged jump boxes with an access gateway
- Require MFA and least privilege for vendor and engineer sessions
- Keep session recordings you can replay when questions come up
Stop 5 · The crews go home
When the turnaround ends, the access ends with it
On plenty of sites the vendor login from the last turnaround is still live long after the crew left. Here each access window closes on its end date: accounts disabled, gateway rules removed, recordings archived, and a short handback report goes to the plant manager.
What LayerLogix does
- Disable contractor accounts and gateway rules on the end date
- Check the control network for devices left behind after startup
- Hand the plant manager a record of who had access, and when
Stop 6 · Watching without touching
We watch the control network without sending it a packet
Monitoring on a control network starts passive. A sensor on a mirror port listens to DCS, SIS and PLC traffic, builds the asset list from what it hears, and flags what's new or odd, like a logic change to a PLC, so operations can check it against the change log.
What LayerLogix does
- Deploy passive OT monitoring on mirror ports, not on controllers
- Build and keep the asset inventory from observed traffic
- Flag new devices and odd traffic, then check them with operations
Showing Before & after · Inside the fence: Shift handover, a turnaround coming, and one flat network
What We Offer
Comprehensive solutions tailored for Houston-area businesses
OT / IT Network Segmentation
The Purdue reference model and ISA/IEC 62443 require strict segmentation between corporate IT and plant OT networks. We design and implement segmented zones, conduits, and DMZs that protect the process network from commodity ransomware without breaking the data flows your operations and business teams depend on.
SCADA & ICS Cybersecurity
Honeywell, Emerson, Yokogawa, Rockwell, and Siemens control systems need cybersecurity protection that respects their availability and determinism requirements. We deploy passive OT monitoring, network visibility, and protective controls that strengthen your ICS security without interfering with the process.
ISA/IEC 62443 Compliance
The recognized global standard for industrial automation cybersecurity. We perform zone and conduit analysis, security level assessment, and gap remediation against 62443-2-1 and 62443-3-3. Essential for refinery operators, EPCs, and systems integrators working across the Gulf Coast.
TSA Pipeline Cybersecurity Directive Support
Pipeline operators must meet TSA Security Directives Pipeline-2021-01B and subsequent directives covering incident reporting, vulnerability assessments, cybersecurity implementation plans, and architectural controls. We help midstream and refinery operators achieve and document compliance.
Process Safety & High-Availability IT
Plant systems that support process safety — alarms, historians, safety instrumented systems, and engineering workstations — must be highly available and carefully managed. We provide patching strategies, change control, and redundant infrastructure that respect OT's availability-first requirements.
Secure Remote Access for Vendors & Engineers
Controlled, auditable remote access for DCS vendors, instrumentation engineers, and SIS specialists — replacing legacy modems and unmanaged jump boxes with modern privileged access management that logs every session and enforces least privilege.
Why Choose LayerLogix?
Serving businesses throughout the Greater Houston area including Houston, The Woodlands, Spring, Katy, Sugar Land, Conroe, Pearland, Dallas, Austin.
Protect Against Ransomware Crossing Into OT
The Colonial Pipeline incident showed how IT-side ransomware can force OT shutdowns. Our segmentation, monitoring, and incident response protect the process network from IT-side compromise — preserving your operational continuity and protecting revenue.
Satisfy Regulators, Insurers, and Customers
TSA directives, CFATS, insurance cyber underwriting, and major-owner audits all demand documented industrial cybersecurity programs. We help you build and maintain the evidence package that satisfies every stakeholder.
Minimize Unplanned Downtime
For a refinery or ethylene cracker, unplanned downtime can mean millions of dollars per day. Our change control, patch management, and OT-aware monitoring reduce the IT and cybersecurity causes of unplanned shutdowns.
Bridge the IT / OT Organizational Gap
IT and operations often speak different languages and operate on different priorities. We bring both perspectives — enterprise IT discipline combined with respect for the process — and help build the collaboration your security program needs.
Purpose-Built for the Gulf Coast
We operate in the Houston Ship Channel corridor and understand the local ecosystem — the contractor workforce, the permitting environment, the hurricane preparedness demands, and the specific systems deployed across Baytown, Pasadena, Deer Park, Texas City, and Beaumont-Port Arthur.
Our Process
When the target is the safety instrumented system, downtime is the good outcome
A refinery or cracker on the Ship Channel runs on deterministic control and an availability-first culture, yet the same DCS, PLC, and SIS that keep the process safe are now squarely in the crosshairs of ransomware crews and nation-state actors. Here is how we map controls to the IT and OT pressures a Gulf Coast process operator actually faces.
Malware reaches the safety instrumented system and reprograms emergency-shutdown logic, the exact playbook of the TRITON attack on a petrochemical plant's Schneider Triconex controllers.
Passive OT monitoring and conduit-level allowlisting around the SIS and Level 1 controllers flag rogue logic changes and protocol anomalies without injecting traffic into the process.
Commodity ransomware lands in corporate IT and pivots down the Purdue stack until plant operators have to scram the unit to stay safe.
Risk-based zones with a hardened IT/OT DMZ and security-level-targeted conduits slow lateral movement and help contain the blast radius to the corporate side.
A DCS vendor, instrumentation engineer, or SIS specialist connects through a legacy modem or unmanaged jump box and nobody can prove what they touched.
Privileged access management with MFA, least-privilege scoping, and full session recording replaces the supported legacy remote paths the OEMs rely on.
A pipeline-connected terminal or midstream asset cannot produce the architecture, monitoring, and reporting evidence a TSA inspector demands.
We help build the cybersecurity implementation plan, continuous monitoring, and network segmentation the directive requires and keep the evidence package inspection-ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you understand industrial control systems, not just corporate IT?▼
How do you deploy security in OT without disrupting the process?▼
Are you familiar with Honeywell, Emerson, Yokogawa, and other DCS vendors?▼
Can you help with TSA Pipeline Security Directives?▼
Do you handle hurricane and emergency resilience?▼
Can you support both the refinery side and the corporate office?▼
Do you provide IT for Petrochemical & Refining in Houston and nearby areas?▼
What does IT for Petrochemical & Refining cost for a Houston business?▼
Ready to Get Started?
Contact LayerLogix today for a free consultation. We serve businesses throughout Houston, The Woodlands, Spring, and the surrounding Greater Houston area.