The proliferation of industrial Ethernet today is putting manufacturing at risk for inadvertent and deliberate intrusions. Security measures tailored specifically for production environments are imperative for keeping operations protected…and profitable.
Security today is a necessary part of every manufacturing operation that expects to run smoothly, efficiently, safely, and profitably. But protecting the industrial environment is far from an easy job. As production equipment and the systems that connect and control it grow increasingly more complex and sophisticated, the measures needed to protect them become more critical as well.
Fueling these developments in large part is the recent evolution of Ethernet technology from the office enterprise to the industrial environment. Once thought to be insufficiently robust and lacking in functionality, industrial Ethernet (standardized Ethernet communications over a hardened networking infrastructure) has advanced remarkably, becoming, in a few short years, the communications staple of manufacturing and production, of automation and control.
Although it offers many benefits, industrial Ethernet is not without issues, especially in terms of security. It typically must carry signals between devices on a precise, exacting schedule. While standard Ethernet in the office environment may be unharmed by a signal transmission fault, it is a different story in the industrial world. Networks here must be able to withstand harsh and hazardous environments with little margin for error. Downtime caused by a security breach on the manufacturing side-whether it is from an inadvertent or unintentional error or from a deliberate cyber attack-is always expensive and can put assets at risk.