What industrial leaders should know about data and cybersecurity?

For several years now, cybersecurity has been one of the most talked-about topics. Our daily lives rely on data, our social security numbers, bank accounts, and in some cases our whole work is available on desktops and smartphones with wifi access. In the industrial sector, suffering from hacker attacks can be even more dangerous than you can imagine.?

With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Digital Transformation movement, the digitalization of whole businesses and processes has grown exponentially. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic led industry leaders to shift part of their business to remote work in response to the crisis. But the race to achieve full digitalization in industries brings concerns around the safety of networks.?

According to the 2020 CGI Client Global Insights report, in the manufacturing industry around 69% of executives interviewed indicated cybersecurity challenges in implementing Digital Transformation strategies. In the long term, Digital Transformation will be necessary. However, it is possible to take small steps towards full and safe digitalization:?

1. Have a team take a measured approach and know what is secured, and what needs to be, like if your intellectual property and ICS infrastructure are vulnerable or not.?
2. Continuously monitor systems, networks, and devices for possible threats, keeping regular backups of the data. If there is some unknown device online, it is important to check it.?
3. Think about the future and make backups! If an incident happens, how can we respond? What does our team need to remediate the effects?

Besides all these guidelines, there are also innovations that can possibly help in guaranteeing the safety of industrial processes, such as 5G technology.?

With the installation of infrastructures to receive the fastest network ever, many countries around the world are looking forward to 5G networks. For cybersecurity, there will be the possibility of private networks, already studied by governments to prevent cyberattacks.

Another technology well-known by industries that will also benefit from 5G, as well as from safer systems, is the IoT (Internet of Things). The sensors that collect and share data through the internet, or other networks, will be able to feed the flow of information in almost real-time. Furthermore, cybersecurity guidelines should be a point of attention so the whole exchange of information can be safer.???

Besides, it is not only the possibility of safer networks that will be part of cybersecurity near future, as the global market of cyber security market size is anticipated to reach USD 366.10 billion by 2028 and exhibit a CAGR of 12.0% during the forecast period.?

In a new data-driven era, with the goals to make the industrial process interoperable, connected, and autonomous, there’s a race to achieve the full digitalization of the process.?

But this need to adopt digital technologies can’t overlap with the necessity for security systems. In that way, to be aware of cybersecurity, continuously monitor the vulnerabilities of the system, and keep regular backups to protect all the sensitive data of the industry, it’s the best way to consciously enter into the Digital Transformation.?

Want to learn more about the next steps of smart industries? Check out this article