3 Challenges of Industry 4.0 and how to address them

Erin Anderson | February 28, 2020
A short guide on how to deal with common challenges faced by ICS asset owners in the modern manufacturing industry
The drive to increase productivity and reduce costs in manufacturing environments has led to an exponential increase in the adoption of automation on plant floors. This integration of computation, networking and physical processes is what has characterized the 4th industrial revolution of today, known as Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Although this trend provides clear business advantages, it has also led to manufacturing networks which are more interconnected, complex and heterogeneous. As a result, today’s manufacturing networks are operating with an increased risk of cyber incidents.
Cyber incidents are not limited to cyberattacks. A cyberattack on a manufacturing facility would be damaging, but it’s not the most prominent threat to a network’s operational continuity. In fact, small to major network or process disruptions due to misconfigurations, erroneous commands, software errors or device failures, can occur almost daily. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent these cyber incidents from impacting production.
Here are three common challenges faced by manufacturers today and how you can address them to build a more cyber resilient network:
Despite the security challenges presented by the evolution of Industry 4.0 / IIoT, your organization can remain resilient and profitable by gaining proper visibility into its network and processes to detect and prevent both cyber incidents and attacks. To learn more about the benefits of continuous monitoring for industrial automation, download this whitepaper.
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