Smart Factory’s benefits have been broadcasted in manufacturing for some time. Within this blog, we have sought to illuminate those benefits and offer a path to follow to bring mechatronics to your workplace in a methodical way, at a pace that suits your company’s needs and capabilities.

Much of what drives a company to implement new protocols and determine expenditure allotments is risk management. Knowing your business interests and preparing for the future requires a solid understanding of your company’s stress limitations. Fiduciary considerations, labor requirements, vendor relationships, customer acquisition, and retention costs are just some of the aspects that need to be addressed.

In this post, we will begin to look at another area that is a growing concern for all businesses: cybersecurity.

It has been more than three years since the Target (leading discount retailer) data breach brought the specter of cybersecurity into public consciousness. The interconnectedness of our world and the businesses that operate within it has made us vulnerable to a new level of security concerns. Data theft, data manipulation, and ransomware are just some of the ways cybercriminals are using breaches to disrupt operations, control your data, and demand payment for data held hostage.

Regardless of your progress toward creating a Smart Factory, securing it needs to be a priority. Knowing that threats are out there does not mean you should defer plans to upgrade your operations. The truth is that any IP access point, whether IIoT-driven or not, makes you vulnerable to intrusion.

Here are five steps you should take to limit exposure:

Protect Your Property

Any physical business, and many personal properties, use some type of alarm system to keep out intruders. This is just part of property protection. Understanding a business’s digital property—its data—is increasingly seen as an active and growing part of a company’s unique assets.

Data is also the fuel that runs a factory, even one that is not operated mechatronically. Disrupting that data in any way creates a roadblock to getting things done.

That is why a business needs to make protecting that asset a priority. Cybercrimes will only increase as our reliance on digital connections grows.

Go on the Offensive

Take a proactive approach, with the assumption that you will be breached. For many businesses, perimeter protection has been the primary means of keeping attacks at bay.

While a strong firewall is important, if you allow for the likelihood that attackers can get past the front gate, you approach your security strategy from a different perspective. Monitoring your network and having the ability to analyze what is going on within it allows you to flag behaviors that stand out as inconsistent with what normal network traffic should look like. When you adopt security approaches that look for those inconsistencies, you can make better decisions about how to deal with suspicious activity.

Whatever your plans for a Smart Factory environment, IP devices will become an increasingly greater part of your manufacturing world. This is the time to develop a well-thought-out approach to your security.

Secure the Endpoints

We live in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) world. Devices that aren’t authorized by your company, i.e. personal smartphones and tablets, are likely to be in your network. You need to have a system in place that works to secure those endpoints.

Create Segmented Networks

With IIoT, or any web of networks that operates in a business environment, the more connecting points between devices, the more potential for disruption. By segmenting your networks intelligently, you can limit the amount of liability from a breach.

This means looking at those connections, especially ones from IoT devices that play a limited role in production, and making their attachment to the network as limited as possible while still allowing them to do their assigned task.

Think of it this way: Putting walls around your networks limits wide exposure and can create containment when a breach occurs. Keep in mind that the Target breach occurred because a hacker was able to enter its network through a local HVAC vendor whose access to Target was broader than it needed to be.

Think Holistically … and Collaboratively

As you update and upgrade your security protocols, remember that looking at any one aspect of your security needs is not enough. Digital assets may be connected to your business in ways you aren’t aware of. Security needs to be seen as a multi-departmental endeavor.

And it needs to be seen outside company walls. The Target breach is an example of how businesses are inextricably tied to others. Collaborate with your connecting points to make sure that all are doing what they can to ensure a protected pathway.  

We’ll be looking at security more closely in future posts under the banner “Securing Your Smart Factory.” We welcome comments and suggestions about areas of interest in this and other Smart Factory topics of interest to our readers. Stay in touch.