Security Frameworks

You have defined characteristics of functionality and business processes that align with your capabilities on the factory floor. These processes help ensure quality and reduce manufacturing costs. The frameworks you use for excellence are dependent upon another framework for sustainability. Your security framework reduces organizational risk by focusing on your business exposure to probable attacks.

Frameworks, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, assist manufacturers with determining security standards for resource priorities while also helping to reach compliance goals. Cyber attacks are inevitable, but the extent of loss is not predetermined.

The threat of data breaches continues to increase and has become more significant for NAICS 31, 32, and 33. The combination of obtaining passwords, infiltrate networks, download software, and then steal your data is how cybercrime continues to inflict harm on manufacturers.

The 2020 Verizon report disclosed the top three patterns used in the manufacturing industry reported breaches were crimeware such as password dumper malware, web applications, and privilege misuse. Within this report, nation-states performed 38% of manufacturers’ breaches, while organized crime executed almost 60% of manufacturing breaches.

Planning For IoT Exploits

The use of IoT within your manufacturing business brings challenges. The increasing deployment of IoT devices, many with weak security, presents an opportunity for hackers. Many IoT products have been found to have fragile security. Hackers also leverage the gaps in security controls many manufacturers have when understanding what their IoT devices are doing. A single IoT device could offer hackers access to your network, systems, and data.

Some IoT devices are embedded into systems, which makes them harder to update or replace. It’s important to plan when integrating devices, considering that many IoT devices’ anticipated lifetime is five years or longer. Many older devices lack security features that are now critical and often lack the ability to update software and firmware to fix known exploited vulnerabilities.

Security Frameworks Protect

Cybersecurity frameworks help protect you from the potentially devastating impact of data breaches.

The FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report emphasizes the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s (IC3) efforts in monitoring trending scams such as Business Email Compromise (BEC), Ransomware, Elder Fraud, and Tech Support Fraud. In 2019, IC3 received a total of 467,361 complaints, with losses exceeding $3.5 Billion.

Organizations should improve their understanding of adversary capabilities and common attack vectors while also identifying risks from third parties in the supply chain and insider threats. Insiders, whether intentional disregard or inadvertent, such as phishing emails, cause many security problems.

Common Use of Security Frameworks

Security frameworks help organizations and federal agencies define their security requirements and risk management processes. Manufacturers who are required to follow federal government agencies’ guidelines use security frameworks to identify and manage their cybersecurity risks.

Some businesses are required to follow additional federally mandated requirements, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which also uses security frameworks. With federally mandated requirements, security frameworks help businesses prioritize the controls needed to protect customer information.

Security frameworks also help secure and protect critical infrastructure organizations from cyber attacks.

Creating Consistent Threat Awareness Among Staff

A well-implemented security framework is not useful if your workforce members cannot understand it or do not follow it. Creating policies that use explicit and straightforward language help employees better understand and retain the expectations of established policies and procedures.

Exposed Data

A significant share of the data records exposed by breaches is attributable to “inadvertent insiders.” Your employees may not mean to cause harm; carelessness and malice aren’t mutually exclusive, and human error is, well, human. But lack of knowledge or inconsistent application can cause or facilitate the same breaches that an external hacker or internal saboteur can.

Upon receiving assistance from our security team to understand your most significant gaps, you can incorporate cybersecurity training into your security program for onboarding procedures and establish continuous learning initiatives for current staff. Your people are your company’s most valuable resource, and they can play active roles in keeping your business safe.

Critical Cybersecurity Measures: Knowing Your Enemy

Before you can protect your critical processes and systems, you need to determine your strategy and risk level. Conducting an internal audit of your systems is pivotal, as the results will help you understand the nature of your cybersecurity strengths and weaknesses. Afterward, we can begin working with you to develop a security framework plan that provides the protection your business requires.

Our security assessments will help you identify the specific threats that can affect your manufacturing business, the most at-risk workflows, and the types of probable attacks that are most likely to cause loss. By prioritizing your cybersecurity structure according to the most critical dangers and what your leadership team doesn’t consider an acceptable risk, you can begin to build a viable co-developed plan in conjunction with our team.

Correcting MSP and Outsourced IT Service Providers’ Mistakes

Your leadership team isn’t the reason that implementing a security framework is challenging. Criminal enterprises, state-sponsored renegades, and other malicious actors use spear-phishing, social engineering, and other hacking tactics to assault your staff’s awareness and breach your security defenses.

Relying on a Managed Services Provider (MSP) or using IT staff who do not focus on security can negatively impact your prevention and mitigation efforts. We commonly discover that business executives misplace their trust in 3^rd party IT providers. We refer to basic cybersecurity controls and data backup and recovery requirements that fail to be correctly implemented. These issues lead to business interruption and unbudgeted expenses for the business stakeholders as the IT provider walks away. Is this a viable strategy?

Building Your Security Framework

Operational and security frameworks require continuous improvement. There is an element of vulnerability in the process of continuous improvement, and there are mounting vulnerabilities if you do not improve. Leadership attitudes and behaviors determine the culture for continuous improvement and trust.

Our team works alongside you and your team to begin implementing your security framework or helping you fill in missing pieces of your security framework. We offer decades of IT experience and insider knowledge of the manufacturing sector to provide your company with reasonable solutions that address your needs.

Your MSP or IT services provider is limiting your prevention and mitigation efforts. There is a better choice. If you’d like to learn more, contact us today.

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