Digital transformation strategies are most sought after by the leading industrial companies, especially with initiatives like Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0. These initiatives are at the top of every CEO’s agenda, primarily for business opportunities like competitive advantage through new service enabled business models which include an agile supply chain, disruptive new products, and efficient operations.  

However, control systems and legacy automation are not inherently secure. And even though new systems have built-in defense and security, industrial companies can’t afford to wait until they refresh the entire fleet of assets. They must ensure safe operations and enable Digital Transformation today. Research shows that the number one technology pitfall companies face in Digital Transformation is industrial cybersecurity. 

Industrial cyber security is now fundamental to business strategy, not secondary. Security at every level must be a prerequisite for the deployment of new technologies. Early adopters struggled to understand how the IIoT was different from then-current technology and how to build a business case around this technology. Once a company moves beyond making a business case and starts examining technology challenges, industrial cyber security rises to the top of the list.  

This is not unusual for a multitude of reasons:  

The pervasiveness of the threat – As per research, more than 50% of people report cybersecurity breach in the companies they work for. What is important to note here is, the attack sources vary from IT, OT, malicious and accidental. It is rare to have direct attacks; however, it is astonishing that 19% of the companies report that removable media can cause infection without any internet connectivity.  

Lack of IT-OT convergence – industrial companies must maintain and update IT and OT systems to ensure basic industrial cybersecurity in the plant. However, given the pervasiveness of the threat, providing IT-OT convergence is just the start. 

Severely limited adoption of industrial cybersecurity best practices across people, process, and technology capabilities – Industrial companies do not invest well in industrial cybersecurity best practices across people, process, and technology. Only 35% of companies have a crucial role in cybersecurity. About 38% of companies have a conclusive list of plant connections and what data can flow through. And 37% of industrial companies do not monitor networks for suspicious behavior. The network architecture is the starting point for cybersecurity. The key is to secure the industrial network and control systems.  

The threat is real, and almost every industrial company today is under-invested in necessary industrial cybersecurity capabilities. Any significant industrial cybersecurity event could completely derail all the progress and potential success of a corporate initiative like Digital Transformation, and for this reason, it is essential to realize that success in Digital Transformation depends on success with industrial cybersecurity.

Way Forward  

Focus on best practices adoption across people, process, and especially technology capabilities like firewalls, access controls, network architecture, risk management, and activity monitoring. If people capabilities are limited to start, consider growing with external professional services that have IT and OT experience.  

Emphasizing on empowering leaders and developing an organizational structure that breaks down the defenses between IT and OT will deliver the greatest results.  

Xpetize Technology Solutions is an IoT solution provider. We have experienced IoT developers to resolve your IoT security issues. Get in touch with us for your IoT queries.