Security Breach: Getting Past the Whack-A-Mole Approach

Balancing the benefits of more connections with the need for embedded software and device security.

The ongoing theme in industrial cybersecurity centers on two competing dynamics – the desire to expand our implementation of automation and Industry 4.0 technologies with the goal of using more and faster connections, along with the decision-making data each generates to improve the efficiency and quality of production.

However, these goals now need to be counter-balanced against the heightened risks that all these connections spawn, and the doors they can open for hackers looking to shut down, extort or steal data from manufacturers. 

In this episode, Joe Saunders, the CEO and Founder of RunSafe Security, offers his take on securing these connections and data, as well:

  • The on-going challenges associated with memory-based vulnerabilities.
  • Tactics for supporting legacy OT code and minimizing the potential disruptions that can accompany software upgrades.
  • Addressing vulnerabilities at a "class" level, instead of the one-at-a-time "whack-a-mole" approach.
  • Embracing CISA's secure-by-demand edicts.
  • The balancing act of more connections without lowering the security posture.
  • Warnings about China and other state-sponsored threat actors.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.netIEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast. And if you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

To download our latest report on industrial cybersecurity,  The Industrial Sector’s New Battlefield, click here.

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