Cybersecurity should be a priority for every business and every industry, but especially for manufacturers. As IT continues to integrate with operational technology (OT) it's becoming increasingly important to make sure that the machinery used on the manufacturing floor not only works, but is secure against bad actors. While machines connected to the internet can help increase productivity, provide instantaneous reporting, and 24/7 monitoring, these machines are often left unsecured and vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.
One of the reasons that manufacturers are targeted so frequency is simply because its easy. Many organizations use decades old machines or work with legacy operating systems that contain numerous vulnerabilities and know exploits that attackers can use. Additionally, a successful breach or ransomware attack will disrupt work flow and lead to extended downtime. If your machines aren't working then they aren't producing and if they're not producing, you're business isn't making any money. During this downtime, businesses become desperate and are more likely to pay a ransom or give into a cyber criminals demands despite the lack of guarantee they'll recover their data.
Manufacturers must have proactive security plans in place for when (not if) they are targeted by a sophisticated threat actor. This includes knowing what threats are out there and how to respond effectively.
What are the biggest threats manufacturers face when doing business today? Unsurprisingly, many of the effective strategies used on other industries are equally as effective on manufacturing.
Here are a few of the most prominent attack vectors organizations should be educated about.
Would your employees be able to recognize a phishing email if it hit their inbox? Statistics show that without significant security awareness training the answer is probably not. According to CISA, 90% of cyber attacks begin with phishing. While many email filtering solutions may be able to block a significant amount of these attempts, there is always a possibility that one will slip through the cracks.
Once this happens, your entire security may rely on one person not clicking a suspicious link. The problem with social engineering is that many of these threat actors are extremely manipulative. A well crafted phishing email will look like the real thing and many employees may not take the time to stop and think before responding.
Perhaps the largest threat to any organization is ransomware. It’s a particularly insidious threat that steals and encrypts your organizations data or other resources and holds it for ransom. Attackers will encrypt your private data so that only they can access it and then demand you pay them for the decryption key. Alternatively, hackers may steal your data and threaten to make it public if their demands aren't met in time. Either way, the outcome is equally undesirable.
One of the more dangerous cyber threats to organizations are state sponsored cyber attacks. These campaigns are coordinated by foreign governments and nations for the purposes of espionage or to cause damage to critical infrastructure. These attackers are sophisticated and well funded. Manufacturers are particularly at risk to nation backed cyber attacks due to the fact that they often work within the federal government or are in some way involved with critical infrastructure.
How should your manufacturing business respond to the increasing cyber threats within the industry? There are several practical ways you can begin bolstering your security posture today, as well as some that require time and patience to see tangible results.
Every organization should have consistent and comprehensive security assessments done on their business. These assessments should address the unique threats or vulnerabilities your industry often faces and seek to root out and remediate them ASAP.
Like most security practices, assessments aren't meant to be a "one and done" solution. As the cyber landscape evolves and changes year over year, your business should consider conducting yearly assessments to make sure you're always ahead of the curve. CorpInfoTech offers security assessments that give your business the problem and solution to your security. Not only do we assess for standard vulnerabilities, but we also can determine any compliance issues found within your security practices. Once completed, CorpInfoTech will offer a way forward in making sure your security posture is as strong as possible.
As previously mentioned, education is key when it comes to security. Security awareness training ensures that your employees know the risks of conducting business online and what to do when faced with social engineering or other advanced threats. Often a businesses weakest links are its humans. You can have all of the best protocols and solutions in place, but if someone clicks the wrong link it's over. Like your assessments, this training should be consistent and reflect the changes in your security environment.
An often neglected yet increasingly necessary aspect of cybersecurity is cyber insurance. A standalone cyber insurance can help mitigate the financial impact of a data breach. For many small-medium sized businesses a successful ransomware attack means permanent closure.
Insurance helps provide aid for any ransom payments, forensics and remediation tools, and hardware replacement. It's important to note that insurance isn't a blank check. Your business must put in the necessary work to secure your business and curb cyber risk.
A simple step every business can take today is making sure you've implemented strong password policies for all of your users. Every employee should be using complex, unique, and impersonal passwords that are difficult to brute force and hard to guess.
Your policies should include mandatory password changes and resets in the event of a compromised account. Your business should also require multi-factor authentication for every application used within the organization. This provides a secondary line of defense in case passwords fail.
CorpInfoTech helps ensure that manufacturers are secure and given the most effective tools to fend off sophisticated cyber threats wherever they exist. We offer a number of services including firewall management, vulnerability scanning, security assessments, and compliance help.
If you work within the DoD then you will have to comply with certain standards including CMMC. CorpInfoTech can make sure that when the time comes you're organization is audit ready! Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you take a proactive approach to cybersecurity.
CorpInfoTech (Corporate Information Technologies) provides small to mid-market organizations with expert I.T. services including compliance assessment, cybersecurity penetration tests, and comprehensive business continuity planning services. CorpInfoTech can help organizations, quantify, create, refine, and mitigate the risks presented by business threatening disasters in whatever form they may be disguised.