What are the main cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Industry 4.0
The digital transformation process brought an increase in the number of connected devices, including industrial devices, in what we call Industry 4.0. Ensuring cybersecurity is essential to keeping any business system up and running. With that in mind, we have brought here the main vulnerabilities of cybersecurity in industry 4.0, which corresponds to the period of technological breakthroughs we are experiencing.
It is no surprise that everyone is connected and so are businesses. However, just as regular users are at risk, business data is also in vulnerable, even dangerous, situations.
Industry 4.0 and cybersecurity
With the high volume of data circulating on several servers, malicious attackers and cybercriminals obviously arise. As such, they develop techniques for stealing data that often have financial value involved.
Considering that many companies operate through electronic and automated systems, the risk is high. Even with all the existing security, there are still no 100% secure systems against hackers.
With the increasing number of cyberattacks, it is crucial to guarantee protection against intrusions. In this scenario, cybersecurity arises in order to prevent and protect important data from these attacks.
Mainly marked by the large volume of data, Industry 4.0 simply lacks protection against virtual threats. Therefore, it is important to understand the main vulnerabilities that all technological developments have.
The dangers of interconnecting systems
Despite making the automation processes much easier for companies, services such as Cloud need to have increased security. If information was previously separated and organized in different locations, this technology has changed that.
With the interconnection of systems and with increasingly centralized storage, attackers have access to all information at once. If, on the one hand, the system becomes more and more intelligent, on the other hand, the risk becomes increasingly greater.
And that is why several companies invest in security. The hackers behind these attacks are constantly looking for loopholes in these systems. If a company does not keep up to date, it becomes a potential victim.
The biggest vulnerability in industry 4.0 is the inability to stop
The technological dependence of industry 4.0 is one of the most striking characteristics of the current period. Having information interrupted or leaked can mean immense monetary losses.
According to data from ITU (International Telecommunication Union), about R$ 80 billion have already been lost in cyberattacks in Brazil. And this figure refers to the period of 2017 and 2018 alone.
Therefore, In 2020 it could not be different. The jump was immense, and according to a report by McAfee, the impact on the economy for these crimes reaches US $ 1 trillion.
In this way, malicious criminals already have greater knowledge about the importance of data. Ransoms for data recovery are increasing and the attempts are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
The main vulnerabilities in cybersecurity and attacks today
With the ever-greater connection between data, it becomes much easier for an attacker to gain access to all of them. This is because of malicious software, which can access all centralized information.
The most common attacks, therefore, are:
- Through malware: here, apparently harmless software is installed on the computer with the user’s permission. With the virus inserted in the program, the attacker receives access to various data. Also, through this program, the criminal can limit the functions of the machine itself. The data can become inaccessible and be stolen by the attacker.
- Through ransomware: this type of attack is much more common in companies. This involves data hijacking, where the attacker can leave the data inaccessible and release it to the user through ransom payments.
- Phishing: it is a very recurring attack. In it, hackers can simulate a page identical to that of a bank, for example. Thus, the user is prompted to enter important data such as individual taxpayer ID, account, and others.
- ZeroDay: this type of attack is a little more common and occurs in newly launched applications. The criminal seeks, in several ways, to find flaws in applications before they are corrected.
Cloud storage and Artificial Intelligence are pillars of industry 4.0. What happens is that a lot of stolen information can easily allow access to much more valuable data.
The interconnection of systems, therefore, generates a lot of concern among cybersecurity experts. On the other hand, information will always be essential to prevent these attacks from being successful.
How to manage cybersecurity in industry 4.0
We can consider that many attacks occur by prior permission from users (as is the case with Trojan horses and Phishing). Although it is not the only factor that guarantees security, restricting users can minimize threats.
By limiting the number of people within the company that can access valuable data, the risk of losing them is much less. This is because, in cases of invasion of any of the machines, the main information will be, for the most part, protected.
It is very important that, for the maintenance of cybersecurity, a company pays attention to the following measures:
- Greater access controls;
- Data encryption; and
- Blocking of certain accesses (mainly from anonymous users);
- Keep the system updated, always exploring and correcting security flaws;
- Scanning for viruses and using an antivirus;
- Frequent updating of passwords and privileged users;
- Monitoring of security services.
The cybersecurity vulnerabilities are directly associated with the lack of maintenance in an organization’s security systems. Keeping systems up to date can be a chore, but it is always a must.
Considering the increasingly sophisticated and intelligent cyberattacks that we come across, we need to update ourselves too.
Otherwise, loopholes are exploited by hackers. The result? Even before a company learns about them, they have already been used for the invasion. A reliable security service is therefore essential in industry 4.0.
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