It’s easy to develop a “third person” mentality when it comes to cyberattacks and network hacking. Many businesses think that only other businesses could be compromised by hackers when in reality it can happen to any company, in any industry.
Recently, a water treatment plant out of Pinellas County, Florida fell victim to a cybersecurity attack where an employee was remotely monitoring their equipment and lost control of their screen and someone was manipulating the system to increase the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, in the water. Law enforcement was immediately brought in, and the situation is being investigated by the FBI, but imagine if the system wasn’t being monitored at that exact moment? Thousands of people could have been negatively impacted by a five-minute hacking session.
“The important thing is to put everyone on notice,” he said. “This should be a wake up call.”
Manufacturers today find themselves in a tricky situation – you must implement technology into your plant floor to create a comprehensive, secure plant-wide network to increase efficiency, reduce downtime, and meet operational goals, yet this comes hand-in-hand with an increased risk of network exposure and cyber attacks. CBT’s team of networking specialists have decades of experience developing and implementing secure digital networks across a wide range of equipment and applications. Learn more about our networking expertise and capabilities here.
Learn how to protect your industrial network from cyberattacks directly from CBT’s cybersecurity expert, Dave Jennings, in this on demand webinar.
