Cybersecurity: The Trail to Industry 4.0
Published on : Thursday 11-06-2020
Businesses in the world all have some issues that can embrace and optimize through the use and adoption of digital transformation. This needs to increase the demand for security solutions to manage risks. The industrial manufacturing companies’ dependent on uptime and safety to be successful, as unplanned shutdown or downtime may lead to impact the entire business operation in terms of production quantity, product quality, sales, profits, brand reputation, and others.
Considering the 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report by the Ponemon Institute, the data breach cost of industrial manufacturing is among the highest of any industry and it can cost around USD 5.2 million.
In the current scenario, the companies are incorporating Industry 4.0 in the industrial business operations, companies are falling short on cybersecurity with outdated systems, unpatched vulnerabilities, and unsecure files, that perhaps the main reasons for vulnerable attacks.
Cybersecurity for Industry 4.0: Recommendations for Industry Manufacturing Companies
The industrial manufacturing companies already adopting Industry 4.0 to initiate the building of smart factories based on information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) systems. It not limited to these systems but also includes assets & account management platforms that need appropriate protection to each asset. The platforms also store technical documents, design files, and employee records that are being shared, processed, and otherwise handled securely over the platforms of industry 4.0.
Recommendations to avoid cybersecurity issues for Industrial Manufacturing companies through the following:
• Incorporation of restrictive permissions and limit the grant access to files and systems. Companies can provide read-only access to low-grade employees or non-decision makers.
• The IT machines and production machines that are allowed to communicate with one another should be identified. There should be restrictions as to which devices in the IT network should be capable of information exchange with which devices in the OT network.
• Additional and redundant services in the network should be disabled to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable services.
Cybersecurity is one of the integral parts of Industry 4.0. The pliability of production processes in the smart factories mainly depends on the manufacturing companies’ about how they are using the industry 4.0 platform, along with the awareness of the threat landscape and the employed most appropriate cybersecurity framework for protecting against cyberattacks.
Time to build the security-first culture to enhance the capability of industry 4.0
Security is the major concern in industry 4.0, as it based on the network connectivity platform principle. There will always be new vulnerabilities and attacks through loose points or human mistakes. For instance, Petya malware virus that aimed at old Windows technology in 2016, which ensures the need for the software update time-to-time.
In the current, phishing is one of the major threats in industry 4.0. To prevent its effect, the companies need to invest in the employee training program and tools to identify phishing emails and adopt multi-factor authentication across the business operation. Also, the use of password management software may strengthen their position to securely store and generates strong and unique passwords. The companies should invest in the updating of software updating policy based on the mitigate from the latest threats