Cybersecurity & Resilience: Influencing the Modern Factory

With the growth of interconnected devices and machines within the Industrial Internet of Things, it has become even more critical to protect your business from cyber-attacks. Whether it’s protecting the personal information of your clients or safeguarding proprietary software from rogue hackers, cybersecurity may be the most important facet in the modern business model. Below we’ll discuss the basics of cybersecurity, explore some modern examples of cybersecurity in other organizations, and extrapolate on how you can leverage aspects of cybersecurity to improve the safety of your internal network.

What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is defined as “the protection of internet-connected systems such as hardware, software, and data from cyber-threats. The practice is used by individuals and enterprises to protect against unauthorized access to data centers and other computerized systems." It’s easy to see why cybersecurity is such a critical part of a business’s online platform. Whether your business conducts transactions and handles the financial information of your customers or stores confidential information, cybersecurity is necessary to prevent data from getting into the hands of nefarious individuals. 

Modern Examples

Many modern hospitals are in the process of entirely digitizing their workspace - charts, patient information, medical history, etc.. Instead of paperwork being manually filed as was the norm years ago, patient information is being uploaded onto various databases for easier access. But what happens if a cyber attack suddenly exposes thousands of patients' personal information? Breaking HIPAA compliance and leaking sensitive information would lead to potentially millions of dollars in fines and damages for the hospital. 

Just within the past few years, Target dealt with a similar issue where hackers stole customer credit card information, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers vulnerable to thieves. By implementing stronger encryption and cybersecurity measures, companies can avoid catastrophic events such as this and continue to keep consumers safe.

Improving Your Business’ Cybersecurity

Perhaps the key to improving the cybersecurity of your business is to develop and strengthen your company’s cyber resilience. Cyber resilience is “the ability of an organization to prepare, respond, and recover when cyberattacks happen. An organization has cyber resilience if it can defend itself against these attacks, limit the effects of a security incident, and guarantee the continuity of its operation during and after the attacks." Commonly used in conjunction with cybersecurity practices, cyber resilience helps to protect against a myriad of threats such as cybercrime, hacktivism, and cyber espionage. Below we’ll break down the four main pillars of cyber resilience and discuss how they can help protect your business from attacks:

1. Threat Protection: The main tenet of cyber resilience, threat protection implores businesses to constantly address and monitor cybersecurity solutions. New technologies such as endpoint detection and response (EDS) work to analyze your business for weak areas where security improvements can be made, thereby limiting outside threats.
   
   
2. Recoverability: In the event of a breach, organizations should have full data backups on different networks. This can also be critical if there is ever an instance where data is accidentally wiped from the system. Furthermore, by taking the time to practice the step-by-step process of what to do in the event of a data breach (a la a fire drill), employees can become much more prepared should the real thing ever happen.
   
   
3. Adaptability: Because of the ever-changing nature of cyber attacks, it is vital that your organization be adaptable - quickly able to recognize and address security threats in real-time.
   
   
4. Durability: Your organization should be able to withstand and operate after a security breach. With enough training, system improvements, and updates, the durability of your business’ cyber resilience will only improve.

Distinctions between cybersecurity and cyber resilience

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