Manufacturing
Employ Innovative Strategies To Safeguard The Heart of Industrial Manufacturing From Evolving Cyber Threats
Cyber threats are no longer limited to digital systems. The Triton malware breach demonstrated that such incidents can also affect physical infrastructure, posing a direct threat to the safety of equipment and people working on the plant floor. This can cause significant disruption to critical operational functions and infrastructure, leading to severe consequences.
Vulnerable Supply Chains
The supply chain is an essential construct to industrial manufacturing companies, where even simple delays or failures in logistics can have costly impacts on the business.
Maersk is one example, where ransomware known as NotPetya caused millions of dollars in damage and widespread subsequent damage, after shipping containers were left stranded and logistics disrupted. The interconnected nature of our supply chains left cascading effects of this malware on industrial operations.
The collateral damage emphasised the urgency for manufacturers to fortify their cyber defences, recognising that threats to one element (such as a supplier) in the ecosystem can become a threat to many others within it.
The Aftermath of Attacks
In the aftermath of malware attacks on the manufacturing industry, it underwent an almost immediate paradigm shift in its approach to cybersecurity. Safeguarding operational technology is now paramount, as in connected environments where digital and physical environments interact safety becomes a security concern.
As the cyber threat landscape evolves, with constant risk pressures, manufacturing companies must employ a holistic security strategy to retain resilience and ensure the integrity, safety and continuity of their critical business operations.