Multiple Cyber Security Problems For Manufacturers

Uploaded on 2025-02-01 in FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Production-Manufacturing

Manufacturing was the sector most exposed to cybersecurity threats for every one of the past three years, according to a 2024 report by the World Economic Forum. The report estimated the average cost of an attack at $4.73m with costs rising by 125% each year.

While security threats continue to rise, so does pressure on costs. Meanwhile, IT operations are becoming more complex as sprawling and fragmented networks pose a growing operational management challenge.

These issues are closely related. Complexity is a drain on costs and skills. Poorly integrated hybrid networks are also harder to secure. Manufacturers recognise that modernising the network and converging networking and security operations will produce performance, cost and security benefits, but keeping the show on the road is consuming their budgets.

This is the picture that emerges from a survey of manufacturers by Gatepoint Research published last November. Manufacturers in the survey have highly distributed networks covering multiple sites, devices, users and partners, making them an easy target for internal attackers, supply chain threats and ransomware. 42% have between 26 and 100 sites with 12% of respondents operating more than 100 sites.

The report reveals that while many in the sector are moving to adopt cloud and hybrid environments, a majority (78%) still operate in mixed data environments, reflecting the unique demands of manufacturing and the prevalence of legacy systems. This creates both opportunities and challenges for implementing solutions that can support multi-cloud and hybrid datacenter setups, secure connectivity across locations, and improved observability into network performance and security.

Manufacturers recognise where they need to get to but are getting there slowly.

Converging network and security operations is a top priority for 38% of respondents, but far fewer (22%) have adopted the converged solutions that would make this possible, while 28% are deferring a decision for at least 12 months and 32% have no current plans.

Lauridsen Group International (LGI) illustrates how the path to better security starts with network modernisation. Lauridsen comprises six companies making health and nutrition products across 60 locations and 20 countries.
In 2022 the company replaced its mixed SD-WAN and MPLS networking environment with a managed SD-WAN service.

This resulted in immediate operational improvements, reducing the need to deal with multiple vendors for last-mile connectivity services while improving network performance and reliability.

The next step two years later was adoption of Aryaka’s Unified SASE as a Service to replace a managed Check Point virtual firewall. This enabled LGI to converge networking and security while reducing the number of vendors it needed to manage. It also gave the IT team granular control over user access from all levels of the network, creating tailored rules for anyone interacting with their network.

The LGI example illustrates that progress is fastest when the journey is broken down into manageable steps:

Conduct an audit of security and access needs: Start by evaluating each facility’s security requirements and remote access demands. This will allow you to prioritise the most impactful upgrades.

Simplify management via SD-WAN and NGFW: SD-WAN and NGFW work hand in hand to simplify connectivity and security. This combination allows for more efficient policy management, thus enabling uniform security across locations. The move to NGFW also produces tangible operational and cost benefits as it enables consolidation of outdated security appliances.

Work with partners to secure the supply chain: By ensuring that partners adhere to the same security standards, manufacturers can mitigate the risks posed by external threats.

Monitor supply chain network traffic: By extending network visibility into the supply chain, manufacturers can track and monitor data flows, identify abnormal activities, and detect potential vulnerabilities before they become major threats.

Adopt a zero trust architecture: Zero trust principles, which ensure that every user and device is continually authenticated and validated, can be extended to third-party connections. Manufacturers should treat every connection with a third-party vendor as a potential threat, ensuring comprehensive verification before granting access to sensitive systems.

The Gatepoint report clearly shows that manufacturers are prioritising improved security but failing to tackle the network infrastructure issues that stand in the way of progress. It concludes that they can break this deadlock by investing in visibility solutions that enable better identification of risks; adopting managed security services to reduce the burden on internal IT teams; securing applications at the network edge to overcome the challenges of hybrid environments; and converging network and security operations whether through consolidation of operations or improved collaboration between teams.

Manufacturers have compelling reasons to modernise their networks and improve their security posture. Some are now beginning to join the dots and recognise that tackling these issues together using converged networking and security technology is not only possible but optimal.

Renuka Nadkarni is Chief Product Officer at Aryaka

Image: Ideogram

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