<p style="font-size:24px">But IT holds the keys and expertise.</p>
Manufacturing operations are changing and becoming more and more connected. It’s unlocking new levels of productivity and profit for the industry.
Since OT professionals are expected to be the experts about what makes plants run, they must change too. And, indeed, OT teams are becoming more skilled at networking and plant connectivity. But many OT professionals do not have sufficient training or education in cybersecurity necessary to manage the nuances and pitfalls of combatting advanced ransomware or other kinds of evolving threats.
Thus, plants find themselves in an awkward position: one where OT teams depend on IT staff that may not be local to the facility to ensure security and manage connected operations. Even though many IT teams often aren’t familiar with the complexities of plant operations and manufacturing technologies.
Because of disparate systems—and compounded by the physical or virtual gap—OT teams often have limited visibility into IT security policies. As OT teams make control system changes, they can accidentally violate IT security policies, potentially leading to an attack or to unplanned downtime.
When it comes to ensuring continuous operations, OT teams need to be more self-reliant. And that includes security. Without visibility into the network, they can’t understand activity or identify anomalies. And without the ability to manage and apply security policies, they’re too dependent on IT—slowing down responses, creating confusion, and impacting productivity.
Of course, IT teams need to stay in control too. They’re the cybersecurity center of expertise for most organizations—but in manufacturing, they can’t do their job effectively without OT’s help.