IT / OT Infrastructure, Digital Information and IoT devices

With the spread of COVID-19, new challenges and opportunities will arise for keeping your business safe from cybersecurity threats. As the government and businesses work on mitigating the impact of the ongoing outbreak, social distancing measures are leading to an increase in remote working across all sectors. The immediate challenge is “how can I protect my digital assets from a cyber-attack?” Some key vulnerabilities to a cyberattack are Information Technology / Operational Technology (IT / OT) infrastructure, digital information and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

This is an original article from NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

Cybersecurity threats are a huge business risk for all companies. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — including manufacturers — are especially vulnerable to attacks. Small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) are often seen as an easy entry point — a “soft” target — into larger businesses and government agencies. One of the first steps when prioritizing how to manage your business risk is to gather information about the threat environment. The 20 important (and shocking) cybersecurity statistics listed below focus on what manufacturers need to know about the “what” and “so what” of cybersecurity, so they can start planning their “now what” actions.

This article first appeared in IndustryWeek.

I do my best to stay attuned to manufacturing trends. There is a confusing barrage of articles and opinions on Industry 4.0. Some articles create new terms, others provide competing definitions around similar concepts, and others seek use cases to justify new technologies. Some are already talking about Industry 5.0 while 4.0 is still in its infancy and ill-defined.