Cyberattacks Spark Demand for Industrial Security Solutions

Rising threats to vehicles and to industrial operational technology (OT) have led a growing number of enterprises worldwide to invest in advanced technologies and services to better secure their assets, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2022 ISG Provider Lens global Manufacturing Security Solutions report finds that cybersecurity has become a high priority for companies in manufacturing, automotive, life sciences and other industries amid recent cyberattacks against manufacturing facilities and connected vehicles. The urgent need to modernize or replace legacy systems, along with a shortage of skilled cybersecurity engineers, is fueling the growth of solution and outsourcing providers.

“Connected systems are vulnerable to a new universe of threats that keeps expanding,” said Bob Krohn, partner at ISG. “Companies are quickly building capabilities to secure both operational technology and mobility.”

While machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and machine learning have helped industrial firms improve quality, maintenance and machine life, many are now using a complicated mix of legacy OT and connected technologies that is rife with security gaps, ISG says. Often, their current OT security solutions lack visibility into IoT, mobile and wireless assets. Enterprises are looking for easy-to-deploy solutions that can display all assets.

Most companies with OT security challenges are implementing systems for detecting and proactively derailing threats, while some are also deploying tools that use decoys and deception to throw off attackers, the report says. ISG predicts the next wave of OT security solutions will focus on big data. These will collect similar kinds of information from multiple customers, especially manufacturing firms, and create a data lake where machine learning algorithms generate security insights and recommendations.

Worries about mobility security are especially intense in the automotive industry, intensified by the growing number of cyberattacks against cars and the introduction of new regulations that impose requirements for protecting vehicles, ISG says. Major automotive dangers include global navigation satellite system (GNSS) spoofing, which can allow attackers to take control of a vehicle, ship or aircraft, and threats that take advantage of the growing number of sensors around modern vehicles.