Seldom does a week go by without a report in the press of a cyber-security incident, with sectors from the health service through transportation to retail suffering data breaches, data losses, or disruptions of service.
Cybersecurity does not belong only to the IT departments anymore— globally its importance has been noticed in the board rooms of companies and the interest of executives has been forecasted to rise. New technologies in manufacturing environments also bring new kinds of cyber threats while the attackers find more and more ways to use the known and unknown vulnerabilities of old systems, technologies, and processes.
All around the world, the manufacturing industry is increasingly dependent on digital networks and their services. The dependency will not diminish, on the contrary, it will increase. Cybersecurity is an enabler of digitalization but when managed poorly it can jeopardize all the benefits digitalization can bring.
Cybersecurity threats are a huge business risk for all companies. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — including manufacturers — are especially vulnerable to attacks. Small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) are often seen as an easy entry point — a “soft” target — into larger businesses and government agencies. One of the first steps when prioritizing how to manage your business risk is to gather information about the threat environment.
Let’s look at some important statistics which justifies the seriousness of cybersecurity, and especially in the manufacturing sector.
- 32% of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) report Construction and Manufacturing most targeted by ransomware.
- Data breaches exposed 4.1 billion records in the first half of 2019.
- By 2020, the estimated number of passwords used by humans and machines worldwide will grow to 300 billion.
- 45% of manufacturers believe that they do not have the right tools to ensure cybersecurity,
- Nearly half of the companies (48%) have been hit by cyber-attacks.
What can manufacturers do?
Firstly, manufacturers are advised to undergo thorough security testing and assessments to identify and quantify where their network is at risk. Sourcing a cybersecurity specialist partner that can implement penetration testing, which subjects a manufacturers’ network to real-world cyberattack scenarios in a safe environment, can be a useful first step to obtaining a thorough evaluation of the current organizational defenses, security policies, and system architecture.
Manufacturers therefore must prioritize cybersecurity awareness amongst employees. At present many IT teams do not have the correct internal support to help them understand and successfully implement the necessary changes to strengthen their cyber defenses and close the loop on human error. This is why specialist cybersecurity companies can prove an invaluable partner to any manufacturing company that is looking to improve its cyber defenses and at the same time struggles to attract the right talent for the job.
Do you also think your business and data require cybersecurity guidance and solutions?
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At AeoLogic Technologies, We combine our market research expertise across an array of technologies that help in building a better future. We’ve been carrying out qualitative and quantitative research projects for our clients for several years, establishing ourselves as the gold standard in reliable technical research.
