The Select Group Launches TSG/ControlBurn, a Digital Twin-Powered OT Security Service That Helps Burn Vulnerable Paths Before Adversaries Can Exploit Them

Brought to market with technology partner Frenos, TSG/ControlBurn gives organizations that run networked operational systems a way to test operational technology security whenever the environment changes, without touching production systems.

RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Select Group (TSG), a North American technology and consulting services firm, today announced the launch of TSG/ControlBurn, a new service that shows organizations across industries where an adversary can reach in their operational technology (OT) networks and helps them close those paths. TSG/ControlBurn is delivered by TSG and brought to market in partnership with Frenos, whose simulated penetration testing platform powers the service's digital twin and adversary simulation.

Most industrial organizations monitor their physical assets continuously: vibration on rotating equipment, temperature on transformers, pressure across the pipeline. Network security in those same environments still runs on a calendar. An OT penetration test typically happens once a year, often at a single site, takes weeks to schedule around outage windows, and starts aging the day the report is delivered. By the time the findings reach the operations team, a firewall rule has changed, a vendor has added a remote access path, and new vulnerabilities have been disclosed on equipment already in service. TSG calls this the assessment half-life. Every change wears down the value of the last assessment, and in most environments that value now runs out before the next assessment is scheduled.

AI is shortening that half-life further. Planning a multi-hop OT attack once meant hours of manual correlation across firewall configurations, asset inventories, and vulnerability lists. Frenos reports that its AI reasoning agent completes that work in minutes. An attacker with commodity AI can do a version of it too, which puts attack paths that once required a specialist within reach of far less capable actors.

"I could not be more excited about what TSG/ControlBurn represents for this firm," said George Karakostantis, CEO of The Select Group. "Our clients know us for modernization delivery. With TSG/ControlBurn, we are putting that experience into a defined offering with a clear scope, a clear outcome, and a team accountable for it. We're proud to partner with Frenos, whose platform lets us show clients where an adversary can reach in their OT environment and then help them close those paths, without touching production. It reflects how we want to show up for clients, and it is an important step for TSG. This is the kind of focused, outcome-driven work our clients have been asking for, and we're excited to deliver it."

TSG/ControlBurn replaces the annual snapshot with validation tied to change. TSG builds a digital twin of the client's OT environment from data the client already collects, including firewall and router configurations, routing tables, asset inventories, and vulnerability exports, and runs adversary simulations against it on the Frenos platform. According to Frenos, the platform needs no agents, no scanning, and no production access, and every simulated attack runs inside the twin rather than on the live network. TSG owns the work that turns those simulations into reduced risk: validating the data that feeds the model, interviewing the engineers who know what matters in the process, prioritizing findings against operational reality, and preparing changes that an operations change board can approve. 

With TSG/ControlBurn, organizations can:

• See which attack paths reach critical assets: Ranked paths from an assumed breach to the systems the organization defines as critical, each with its prerequisites and consequences.
• Prove whether segmentation holds: Boundaries tested against actual configurations rather than network diagrams.
• Cut the vulnerability backlog to what is reachable: Findings prioritized by whether they sit on a modeled attack path, with exploitability confirmed jointly with the client's engineers.
• Understand blast radius: A view of what an adversary could reach if a given zone is compromised.
• Act on a clear plan: A dependency-sequenced roadmap with mitigation alternatives and a plain recommendation on what to do first.

TSG/ControlBurn is available in three tiers, each starting with the same four-day engagement. TSG/ControlBurn Foundation assesses one site and its primary OT networks and delivers ranked attack paths, a mitigation set, and a roadmap. TSG/ControlBurn Consulting adds TSG support through the roadmap, from prioritizing the backlog and packaging changes for the client's change board to re-simulating after each change to confirm the path closed. TSG/ControlBurn Implementation adds TSG engineers who make approved changes alongside the client's engineers, inside the client's change control. In every tier, the client approves each change and owns operational decisions.

Because every simulation runs in a model rather than on a live process, TSG/ControlBurn makes it practical to test when the environment changes: after a change is designed and before it goes live, whether that is a new vendor remote access path, a cloud historian migration, or the integration of an acquired site. Each re-simulation uses the same assumptions and critical assets as the one before it, so leaders can compare results directly and see whether remediation work reduced exposure.

"Nobody would accept checking a turbine once a year and calling it monitored, yet that is still how most OT networks are assessed," said Adam Mattis, Head of Product and Alliances, The Select Group. "Testing more often will not fix that, because the calendar is the wrong trigger. The right time to validate is when something changes, and Frenos gives us a way to do that without touching production. The rest is the unglamorous part, and it is where we spend most of our time: getting clean configuration exports, reconciling inventories, sitting with the engineers who know which systems matter, and turning findings into change packages an operations change board will approve. The platform is only as good as its inputs, and a finding only reduces risk once someone closes it."

TSG/ControlBurn is part of TSG's investment in its alliance partner network and proprietary offerings, which pair specialized partner technology with delivery that TSG owns. Frenos contributes the simulation platform. TSG owns the service, the delivery team, and accountability for the outcome.

"Technology alone doesn't fix operational security. It takes the right expertise to turn intelligence into actual risk reduction," said Brian Proctor, Founder and CEO, Frenos. "Frenos reveals where adversaries can reach, but TSG brings the hands-on engineering and change management needed to close those paths. Partnering with The Select Group ensures our continuous simulation intelligence translates into immediate, real-world risk reduction without disrupting operations."

TSG/ControlBurn sits within TSG's Cybersecurity practice and connects to its Cloud and Infrastructure, Data and AI, Learning and Change, and Project Management and Agile services, because most OT exposure findings trace back to architecture decisions, inventory data quality, vendor access processes, and change management gaps. The service applies across every industry TSG serves, anywhere networked operational systems carry a physical consequence of compromise, including building management systems, data center facilities infrastructure, clinical device networks, and production lines.

Organizations can learn more about TSG/ControlBurn and read the TSG whitepaper, The Assessment Half-Life, at selectgroup.com/controlburn.

About The Select Group

The Select Group is a technology consulting and services partner that helps organizations turn modernization into measurable business impact. By connecting technology strategy and execution to the priorities that matter most, TSG helps clients modernize with purpose, adapt as needs evolve, and get more value from both existing and emerging technologies. Our approach is built for continuous progress, helping organizations strengthen capabilities over time and create results that last. To learn more, visit www.selectgroup.com.

About Frenos

Frenos is the industry's first fully simulated AI penetration testing platform, combining digital twin technology with an AI reasoning agent that thinks like an adversary to reveal every attack path in your OT environment, risk-free. Frenos transforms how operational technology (OT) cybersecurity teams assess the cybersecurity posture of mission-critical sites and environments, reducing assessment time from months to minutes with zero impact on operations. Follow our blog, connect with us on LinkedIn, or visit our website at www.frenos.io.

SOURCE The Select Group