Highlights
- Cybersecurity is a boardroom-level imperative for manufacturers today, as industry attacks have grown in sophistication and scale with the shift to smart factories.
- While focused on the benefits of making the smart shift, manufacturers must also define the right strategies to address the cyber risks that come with information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) convergence.
- Tomorrow’s industry leaders will be those who view a comprehensive cyber strategy as key to blocking threats and enabling modernization initiatives on a foundation of trust.
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A smart manufacturing imperative
A smarter cyber strategy must be designed to lock out expanding threats while unlocking the growth opportunities of a connected world.
With the evolution of technology and Industry 4.0 giving rise to smart factories, many manufacturers have embraced modernization initiatives and accelerated their AI-first transformation journeys. The increased connectivity between IT and OT environments has, in turn, introduced new security vulnerabilities and widened the threat landscape for manufacturers.
Previously, factories operated in isolation without connectivity and associated risks of exposure. But migrating to the cloud, integrating factory systems with enterprise and supplier systems, and enabling remote operation capabilities with cybersecurity as an afterthought have left manufacturers exposed. On top of it all, end products such as software-enabled, connected cars and internet of things (IoT) devices are providing additional pathways for exposure.
Because participating in a connected ecosystem presents both opportunities and threats to business growth and continuity, a smart factory is only as smart as its operational systems and data are secure.
Operational disruptions and associated business and customer impacts can inflict lasting reputational damage and serious financial losses. A plant operation that is compromised for even a few days can quickly translate into millions of dollars in losses. Addressing such cyber threats is a high priority among industry leaders.
“CIOs and CISOs must therefore build a collaborative partnership with business owners on the plant and operations side to help ensure that modernization initiatives are implemented from the start based on a sound cybersecurity strategy" says Kunal Pradhan, Global Head, Cybersecurity Practice, Manufacturing, TCS.
Multifold challenges
Manufacturers are challenged to detect and control unseen threats.
A lack of overall visibility across operations and connected systems and devices underscores the multifaceted set of challenges to be addressed in a cyber strategy for smart manufacturing. Many manufacturing plants have also been built on relatively flat networks, rather than segmented networks, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Threat actors, for instance, may gain network access by exploiting vulnerabilities in a USB modem used for carrying out plant maintenance remotely. They can then move around the network undetected quite easily, creating widespread damage to systems and compromising data.
Figure 1: Key challenges in securing manufacturing environments
When it comes to addressing more specific challenges, manufacturers operating on legacy technology infrastructure struggle to adopt and integrate new cloud-based and IoT solutions. Inaccuracies/incompleteness in asset inventory management makes it difficult to keep track of the multitude of interconnected devices in an OT/IoT landscape.
A lack of security ownership and collaboration across business units within the enterprise further results in fragmented security solutions, hindering orchestration and real-time visibility. The security process and solutions are subsequently deficient for addressing users, devices, and the extended ecosystem. Failure to detect cyberattacks early may lead to greater damage to operations.
Ensuring compliance with fast-changing and emerging data protection and privacy regulations is also becoming increasingly complex. As an example, global compliance requirements for the automotive industry are increasing with the Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange (TISAX) and United Nations regulations (R.155 and R.156).
Inadequate consideration of security during the adoption and integration of new digital solutions leads to ineffective vulnerability management and gaps in security controls with the expanding attack surface across the enterprise and edge devices. In effect, there is a need for increasing empowerment of the cybersecurity function to drive transformation across the enterprise and enable decision-making authority.
Converging trends driving priorities
Growing technological and operational trends converging through Industry 4.0 are driving cyber priorities for manufacturers.
The challenges facing manufacturers today aren’t occurring in isolation. Rather, they are rooted in larger technological and operational trends emerging through the Industry 4.0 revolution. A multiplier effect is observed across key trends, such as the growing number of cyberattacks occurring with AI-driven sophistication, and the speed and scale of impact. To safely lead their industries into the future, manufacturers must adapt their cyber programs and set operational and strategic priorities based on these growing trends.
Figure 2: Six key trends driving cyber operational and strategic priorities in smart manufacturing
Key trends observed include:
Ransomware/malware and zero-day attacks: Manufacturing is among the key industries impacted by ransomware attacks. All it takes is for an attacker to exploit a small vulnerability in an IT system to disrupt manufacturing operations and take entire networks offline.
Edge computing and applications: A distributed form of computing, edge computing allows for faster, more efficient data processing at the network edge or closer to its source. As the points of connection between IT and OT systems increase, however, so does the attack surface and need for boundary control. Consider, for instance, software updates for connected machinery, robots, or smart devices. Edge security is needed to protect against malicious code that could be downloaded locally and then spread across the network. This is where a secure service edge and zero-trust concepts come into play to help ensure system access is granted only to verified sources with continuous monitoring for any vulnerabilities.
Usage of digital twins: Traditionally, digital twins were used to simulate the physical environment of a plant and its processes. But now, manufacturers are also using them to safely test cyber solutions. Most manufacturers lack the resources for enabling multiple development and testing environments. Digital twin technology, however, offers a cost-effective way to simulate security solutions before deploying them in the real world. Moreover, digital twins can be used to model and demonstrate the potential impact of various threat scenarios.
Supply chain vulnerability: With the integration of systems across an extensive ecosystem of suppliers that generally lack cybersecurity maturity, the supply chain has become a new and growing attack vector. Manufacturing firms must therefore carefully evaluate and continuously monitor the security posture of their supply chain partners. Because it’s often unclear who is responsible for managing their systems, it can be difficult to pinpoint the source of an attack.
Heightened focus on data protection and privacy: Data protection and privacy have become strategic priorities for manufacturers not only for compliance but also to safeguard competitive advantage. For instance, manufacturers may handle proprietary automotive designs, product engineering blueprints, or chemical formulas. Intellectual property is a key factor in achieving their market position and long-term profitability goals. With the rise of Industry 4.0, data generation, sharing, and storage have become interconnected, increasing the risk of insider threats and external breaches. To safeguard their data and intellectual property, manufacturers need robust data governance, the latest encryption tools, and better risk management capabilities.
Advancing AI-driven threats: What’s particularly concerning is the rise of more sophisticated, AI-driven network and system breaches. AI is now being used to launch ransomware attacks and even denial of service attacks. According to the TCS AI for Business Study Manufacturing Report, among the issues that GenAI has brought to the fore, manufacturing industry execs say security and privacy are their top concern.
TOWARD CYBER RESILIENCE
For tomorrow’s industry leaders, a sound cyber strategy is the bedrock of continuous operation and innovation for sustainable growth.
A strategic approach is key to achieving cyber agility and resilience. Manufacturers must strengthen industrial controls to anticipate and ward off increasingly sophisticated threats while ensuring compliance with continually expanding data privacy and security regulations. The building blocks for a future-ready and cyber-resilient strategy are:
- Zero-trust architecture: The principle of “never trust, always verify” is core to securing manufacturing systems and extends beyond IT to the OT environment. It enables micro-segmentation of the network, identity-centric access control, and continuous authentication while limiting lateral movement of threats in the event of a breach.
- Unified visibility and governance: Manufacturing organizations must break down their IT and OT silos. Complete visibility with centralized threat detection and coordinated incident response strategies across both environments is essential.
- Employing advanced technologies for defense: AI and machine learning are transformative for anomaly detection, predictive analytics, and automated responses in complex industrial networks. Manufacturers can effectively derisk AI adoption by enhancing cyber capabilities with autonomous AI agents—providing cyber for AI, and AI for cyber. Looking ahead, they must prepare to adopt quantum-resistant safety standards. To help ensure cyber resilience, they can also use digital twins for simulation and testing of threat scenarios.
- Human-centric approach: While technology is a key enabler for a cyber strategy, people remain at the helm. Everyone in the organization must be part of the solution and not the problem when it comes to ensuring effective authentication, authorization, and accounting controls. A comprehensive cyber awareness and training program is essential to empowering the workforce to play a proactive role in an organization’s cyber offense and defense.
- Robust supply chain security: Minimizing risk across the supply chain goes beyond basic vendor assessments. Cybersecurity for supply chain management also requires governance, risk, and compliance frameworks in addition to legal agreements and continuous monitoring to facilitate understanding and effective mitigation of potential threats.
Cybersecurity in manufacturing is no longer a peripheral concern. Beyond protecting systems, data, and intellectual property, it's about safeguarding the future of industrial innovation. The unique security challenges posed by increasingly connected manufacturing environments demand a strategic and proactive response. By embracing a comprehensive cyber strategy, manufacturing leaders can turn vulnerabilities into competitive advantages.
