If you work in OT, humor isn’t optional… It’s a survival skill.

And like all cybersecurity fields, the memes sometimes write themselves. From never-ending asset inventories, compliance checklists that grow faster than your budget, and the heroic optimism of engineers keeping critical infrastructure running on coffee and pure faith in legacy systems that absolutely cannot be touched (even on “Patch Tuesday”).

In the spirit of shared pain, shared wins, and shared screenshots, we’ve rounded up the Top 17 Cybersecurity Memes of 2025. We’d like to give a special shout-out and hat tip to Mike Holcomb for creating many of the OT cybersecurity memes that you’ll find in this list.

1. Good Ole Asset Inventory

You can’t protect what you can’t see, and in OT, removing the blindfold means having and keeping an asset inventory. Otherwise, it’s easy to end up lost at sea. Also, you should definitely check out Bird Box if you haven’t seen that already.

2. Unrealistic Job Postings

No matter how many job postings ask for two decades of experience from someone with a fresh cert in their hand, the truth is, *anyone can *work in OT/ICS cybersecurity. Well…almost anyone.

3. Industry 5.0

Is it humans working happily alongside their robot overlords? Is it people being *replaced entirely *by eco-friendly robots that institute a circular, sustainable economy? Is it a focus on societal well-being as opposed to simply productivity metrics? No one seems to know for sure, but the academic papers, blogs, and podcasts keep on coming anyway.

4. Chief Chaos Coordinators

Jumping into OT cybersecurity can be a bit…intense. While every defender is faced with an onslaught of issues, threats, and challenges, OT defenders handle their own unique brand of chaos every day. Including (especially?) their first day.

5. Fighting the Good Fight

Like all defenders, an OT security manager begins bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the world’s enemies and keep the most vital systems in the world running…until their first 1:1 with the board, manager, or CFO. The gap between what’s needed and what (supposedly) can be done is wide and wearying.

6. Taco Tuesday > Patch Tuesday

Ah, patch days. You’ve prepared for them. You’ve warned everyone else. You’ve lost years off your life (well, it felt that way, anyway) sitting through them. Patching legacy systems is often an extra spicy process but the addition of other team members (who *definitely *got the email and reminder) frustration adds an extra layer of “fun” to the process. And yet…

7. Testing All the Pens

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: OT is not IT. A PLC is not a Windows server, after all. Few areas make this more obvious than when it comes to pen testing. There are OT devices with embedded CPUs, not to mention the potentially catastrophic impacts of a successful attack. If you’re working with a third-party company to conduct your pentest, make sure they have a significant amount of experience in OT environments.

8. The Purdue Model

Ah, the Purdue Model. When it comes to OT, it often has to be adjusted a bit to fit an organization’s needs. That’s why understanding what it is in the environment in the first place is important enough to warrant a Bat slap if you’re confusing an architecture with a true security framework.

9. Segmentation

Forget the bells and whistles (and buzzwords). Segmentation is critical in OT environments, so before management catches a bad case of shiny object syndrome, make sure your networks are properly segmented.

10. Upon Whom Shall This Mantle Fall

It’s true the water industry is facing a pending workforce shortage. That *isn’t *funny, but it *is *memeworthy. Share your knowledge with others. Let’s keep investing in the next generation of OT cybersecurity warriors.

11. Never Gonna…

(and now it’s stuck in your head — but it’s also stuck in ours, so we got a taste of our own Rick Roll medicine) This one is solidly in the “funny because it’s true” category.

12. Just Smile and Nod

It’s TFW the network diagram you’re given is older than some of the equipment. There’s a *lot *of legacy knowledge in OT. We just need to do a better job of documenting that and sharing it with our fellow team members. Fortunately, it’s never too late to ask a good question.

13. Someone Else’s Computer

Well, all that data’s gotta be put somewhere… No one enjoys a pun or a dad joke better than a cybersecurity pro, and this meme manages to be both at the same time. Chef’s kiss.

14. Nation State Attacks

Ah yes, 2025. The year nation-state attacks seemed to go to a whole other level in OT, particularly in manufacturing and energy. Defenders kept our ICS running, our supply chains safe, and our enemies thwarted.

15. A Backup for Your Backup’s Backup

Sometimes redundancy can get…complicated, even though it seems straightforward. Fortunately, there’s more than one backup for that (hopefully?).

16. AI in OT

Whether it’s horror stories about how AI is being used to amplify attacks (fair point) or how it will bring defense to an exponential, never-before-seen level, AI was the center of many conversations last year, and OT was no exception. *How *it should be built, used, and deployed, however, is another matter entirely.

17. Mellon

LOTR, a nod to the legacy tech used in OT, *and *a pun? Could it get any better? We don’t think so. That’s why we saved the best for last.

Share Your Favorite OT Cybersecurity Memes

We hope these memes made you chuckle. After all, we could all use a good laugh from time to time, especially when our day jobs can be pretty stressful. Did we miss your favorite OT cybersecurity memes of the year? Send them our way, and we’ll include them in a future newsletter with attribution! Here’s to many more meme-induced snort-laughs.

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