Manufacturing Cyber Security

Industry 4.0 has arrived – recent data shows that 90% of manufacturers view digital manufacturing tools and technologies as critical for improving productivity and profit — but many struggle to effectively adopt new solutions. Complexity accounts for one side of this challenge. The other is manufacturing cyber security. As both the scope and scale of digital solutions expand, organizations need effective ways to both reduce cyber risk and address emerging cyber security threats in manufacturing.

Manufacturing Cyber security tool

Recognizing Key Risks

Cyber security manufacturing concerns are on the rise. As organizations shift both operations and production to digital platforms, there’s increasing potential for malicious actors to compromise critical infrastructure or impede essential processes. For industries, the advent of sophisticated SCADA and ICS attacks creates a concern for connected systems — if attackers gain access to control platforms or essential network components, they could alter production parameters or reduce time-sensitive outputs. For customers, manufacturing cyber attacks can negatively impact overall trust. If clients are unsure of companies’ ability to meet production targets or worried that critical data may be compromised, business reputations can suffer. As a result, it’s essential for organizations to both recognize the evolving cyber risk for manufacturing and deploy solutions capable of meeting — and defeating — this challenge.

manufacturing security risk boxes

Creating Consistent Policies

Creating consistency in manufacturing cyber security policies is critical. First, organizations must identify key security needs. For example, businesses adopting new industrial Internet of things (IIoT) solutions are often best served by third-party vendor management solutions and risk assessment tools that help them identify potential weaknesses before critical issues emerge. Next, it’s essential for manufacturers to find their best-fit cyber security provider. As both cloud and on-premise solutions evolve, the market for these tools is rapidly expanding. To ensure providers can effectively address and respond to manufacturing cyber attacks, organizations need industry partners with the depth of experience and breadth of expertise to meet emerging challenges head-on. Drafting purpose-driven secure manufacturing policies is next on the list. In concert with cyber security providers, organizations must identify key weaknesses and create policies that specifically address potential security gaps. These may include identity and access management (IAM) controls, compliance procedures and privacy protection regulations. Finally, organizations must recognize the ongoing nature of manufacturing cyber attacks and the need for continual security monitoring and measurement. It’s critical to identify key metrics — such as identifying the specific nature of attacks or monitoring the overall number of threats — to ensure polices are working as intended.

manufacturing security product risk

Deploying Purpose-Driven Defenses

At HALOCK Security Labs, it’s our mission to deliver reasonable and appropriate  manufacturing cyber security solutions that empower organizations to quickly deploy best-of-breed strategies and reduce total risk. The manufacturing industry’s top threats are system intrusion, social engineering and miscellaneous errors, which represent 83% of breaches. Our services can help protect your data and systems. These include:

  • Risk Based Threat Assessment –  Improve protection against the five MITRE ATT&CK Types. Prioritize security controls to enhance or implement using the best threat data the cybersecurity community offers, leveraging the HALOCK Industry Threat (HIT)  Index, a model for estimating the most likely (and least likely) ways your organization will be hit by a cybersecurity or information security attack.
  • HALOCK’s Cloud Security Assessment –  Gain insight on your risks. The assessment provides a review of Azure, AWS, and Google (GCP) cloud environments to identify risk and recommends how to remediate them.
  • Compliance Controls — The increasing use of connected devices creates compliance concerns for digital manufacturing processes. PCI DSS v4.0 has updated its requirements. It is essential to review your compliance today to plan properly for your transition to the new standard. HIPAA and Privacy compliance are top of mind for all – from employees to clients, ensure you are practicing reasonable security to protect your sensitive information. HALOCK’s compliance controls help your company stay current and compliant.
  • Incident Response Solutions — What happens if your production line is compromised? HALOCK can help your team design and deploy essential response procedures to help minimize risk and cost. HALOCK’s incident response management, process, and planning provide comprehensive coverage in the event of a security breach. Establish an incident response plan (IRP). Explore an ongoing program that gets in front of any potential threats or attacks. Undergo a forensic analysis. You can be response ready with an Incident Response Readiness as a Service (IRRaaS) program.
  • Penetration Testing — System weaknesses aren’t always easy to identify, especially if you’re using a combination of both new tools and legacy systems. Our penetration testing tools help identify potential weak spots before they become big problems. Continuously verify the effectiveness of your controls with Recurring Pen Testing Program to keep up with new cyber security threats.
  • Mergers & Acquisition (M&A): As part of the due diligence process of an M&A, organizations must understand the risk and security profile of their partner or target company. You must determine what liabilities or risks can arise under the other company’s cybersecurity program. With HALOCK’s M&A program, we can help you through the entire process from pre-acquisition to post-acquisition to identify risks, remediation steps, and establish reasonable security.
  • Third-party risk management (TPRM) — No digital transformation happens without third-party agreements. From software to hardware to infrastructure and network tools, vendors and contractors are critical to success. But they also can introduce cyber security manufacturing risk. A required best practice is to always conduct a supplier risk assessment to keep your vendors on point with your security posture. HALOCK can help build TPRM programs that deliver both performance and protection.
  • Critical Risk Assessments — Are you deploying key safeguards and implementing reasonable protection policies? Our Duty of Care Risk Assessment (DoCRA) helps ensure you’re meeting due diligence requirements and delivering on defensive expectations. Updates in compliance requirements can be challenging to manage. Secure practices include understanding your overall risk. With the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Cybersecurity rules on disclosure, it’s essential that you regularly review your risk profile.
  • Privacy ProtectionProtecting customer and partner data is critical for secure manufacturing success. HALOCK experts can help you understand key privacy requirements and deploy effective security policies at scale.
  • Policies & Procedures and Security Awareness Training — Ensure your teams are well-versed in how to manage company devices, understand potential threats, and how to communicate risks to the proper parties. Our teams can frame guidelines and protocols  for cyber awareness and protocols specific to your organization.

” … the service was excellent … the Incident Response Plan was very well executed.”

– Industrial Manufacturing company

Production Manufacturer Cyber Risk

Protecting Productivity With HALOCK

Industry 4.0 has changed the manufacturing landscape. Digital tools are now critical to staying competitive, but these same tools introduce the potential for manufacturing cyber security gaps that leave essential control systems or production line processes exposed. As the economy depends on the essential manufacturing industry to grow, we can help keep them secure. HALOCK’s custom-built security solutions are designed to protect your productivity and help create consistent security policies that deliver long-term protection. Our experts work with your team to manufacture security solutions that both meet current needs and address future cyber security manufacturing concerns, even as digital adoption expands and connected technologies become cornerstone solutions.

KEEPING YOU INFORMED – HALOCK SECURITY BRIEFING FOR CLIENTS

The HALOCK Security Briefing is a review of significant events, trends, and movements that will influence how you manage cybersecurity, risk, and compliance. Our clients receive periodic overviews with an extensive report file on the topics discussed. This insightful document also includes reference links throughout the report for easy navigation and deeper research.



“Your staff is incredible. Excellent to work with.”

– Manufacturing & Distribution company

Cyber Security Manufacturing HALOCK Reasonable
Making the most of manufacturing cyber security demands recognition of key risks, creation of consistent policies and the deployment of purpose-driven defenses. HALOCK is here to help. Let’s talk.