From time to time, events occur which shine a light on weaknesses as to the flow of data within our existing information systems.  Looking back at my year with IMEC, several of these types of events readily come to mind which to a varying degree affected nearly everyone including Y2K, 9/11 and the Great/Global Recession, while many other events affected certain sectors of the populace, such as regional power or widespread internet outages.  In each of these instances, system shortcomings were exposed and inconveniences were experienced.

Co-authored by IMEC Technical Specialists John Remsey, Ken Wunderlich, and Hanoz Umrigar.

Risk, as viewed as an exposure to a negative event, is a very broad and commonly used terminology.  From the insurance industry, to medical services, to business operations, “Risk” is deeply ingrained in common vocabulary.  With the recent global events, the question being asked frequently is how to effectively evaluate and manage risk when it seems that nearly everything is at risk?

Cybersecurity continues to be a hot topic for manufacturers – and rightfully so! According to the State of Industrial Cybersecurity 2018 by Kaspersky, “Over three quarters of the companies surveyed state that it is very likely or at least quite likely to become a target of a cybersecurity attack in the operational technology and industrial cybersecurity space. Despite this, only 23% are compliant with minimal mandatory industry or government guidance and regulations around cybersecurity of industrial control systems.”

Written by John Remsey, IMEC Senior Technical Specialist

Cybersecurity has become a hot topic within manufacturing over the past months, especially for the Defense supply chain with the federal government increasing their emphasis on addressing threats to the security of information.  In December 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) released a rule to the Defense Acquisition Federal Regulation Supplement (DAFRS) that requires government contractors to implement the requirements of National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171 by December 31, 2017.  With this deadline fast approaching, conversation, and urgency, to become compliant is increasing.