The industrial environment is increasingly connecting the cyber and physical worlds, challenging organizations to work faster and smarter while protecting legacy and modern systems alike. Mirco Kloss, Business Development Manager Operational Technology DACH at Fortinet, is aware of the threat to which both IT and OT are exposed.

Are German companies adequately prepared for potential cyber attacks and are their protective measures sufficient?

Kloss: As you can regularly read in the press, companies are increasingly becoming the target of successful and highly innovative cyber attacks. We should therefore always be aware that all companies - regardless of industry or size - can be affected by such attacks and that cyber security must be at the top of the priority list in all decisions to protect the company and its assets. This requires customized solutions, but also education. Making employees aware of the dangers and regularly reminding them not to open all email attachments or click on links carelessly is an important and correct step, but only a first one.

Regardless of the budget, which three security measures should companies implement to protect themselves from cyber attacks?

Kloss: As companies can only protect what they can see and know, a comprehensive view of all networks is necessary - whether IT or OT, whether WAN, LAN, WLAN or in the cloud. If an attack and infestation of a section becomes visible thanks to this transparency, segmentation with Next Generation Firewalls prevents it from spreading to the entire company. With regard to employees - but also machines - it is essential these days to create secure access to the company network. In many companies, a large number of IoT devices now also access the company network and cloud services from anywhere.

Keyword security as a service: should the manufacturing and process industry consider managed security services?

Kloss: As more and more IT technology finds its way into the manufacturing and process industry - for example to increase production efficiency - the shortage of skilled workers will become even more acute.

The unstoppable digital transformation in companies therefore also entails a security transformation if companies want to maintain their competitiveness.

In order for companies to be able to focus on their core competencies, it will be essential for many companies to rely on the expertise and experience of service providers.