Resilient OT Cybersecurity: The Key to Digital Benefits
As manufacturers increase their OT investments, a well-planned cyber strategy is essential to resilience.
Digital technologies are increasingly more accessible and cost-effective for manufacturers, leading to entirely new levels of operational efficiency. While legacy systems are still present in a great number of factories, many are being phased out in favor of newer systems that take advantage of predictive analytics, asset performance management, augmented reality, and other state-of-the-art approaches to improving manufacturing operations.
The benefits of digitalizing operations are top-of-mind, but manufacturing organizations are also considering the increased complexity, exposure, and risk presented by adding more devices and systems that are connected to internal and external networks. To fully realize the promise of digital transformation, manufacturers are thoughtfully and intentionally beginning a journey toward more resilient OT enterprises that can withstand cybersecurity threats.
Cybersecurity Challenges in Manufacturing
Merging manufacturing’s long-standing priorities of efficiency and productivity, legacy infrastructure, and today’s emerging technology results in increased risk for manufacturers across multiple industries.
A report from Food Processing, commissioned by Dragos and Fortinet, found that nearly half (47%) of companies in food & beverage manufacturing believe that the potential exposure to cyberattacks has increased moderately or significantly over the last 12 months. In that report, 100% of respondents ranked crisis management and business continuity as somewhat or very important cybersecurity concerns. Loss of productivity (74%), loss of revenue (71%), and service interruptions (69%) were also top-of-mind for many manufacturing security professionals.
Capgemini Research Institute’s report on smart factories identified pharmaceutical manufacturing as one of the most frequently impacted industries, with 44% of surveyed pharma and life science companies reporting at least one cyberattack impacting smart factories.
The Dragos 2021 Year in Review report – which includes a summary of results from cybersecurity assessments across various industrial environments – found that chemical manufacturers most commonly struggle with managing external connectivity, poor network perimeters, and limited visibility into OT assets.
Eddy Wade is a Principal Industrial Consultant at Dragos.
