In order to gain process efficiencies, businesses are connecting Extended Internet of Things (XioT) devices and systems to the Internet and are managing them from the cloud. However, security vulnerabilities are impacting cloud-managed OT devices and management consoles in the cloud. They frequently escape the attention of the asset owners and cybersecurity teams.
The pandemic impacted the acceleration of digital transformation that expanded from advanced digitization into increasingly unmanaged automation. The risk of disruption and downtime to execute new cybersecurity control, patch, or system upgrade can be a non-starter. Following are the measures that businesses can take for Extended Internet of Things (XIoT) cybersecurity-
Building of Operational Resilience
The Extended Internet of Things (XIoT) generates more revenue for businesses and improves customer satisfaction. Any cyber risks threatening the availability and uptime can cause a significant impact on financial performance at the time assets to restart.
Attacks can also risk product delivery if any non-desirable changes are made such as tampering with machinery to change the procedure etc. One this here to consider is that OT environments look out for safety systems in order to protect the customers in case of any system malfunctions.
As the OT network has been a blind spot for IT security experts for decades, now companies are required to act on it to drive visibility, continuity, and resiliency across the ever-expanding XIoT. Businesses have an opportunity to design a security program from the start, once they are aware of the most secure and efficient among the existing security technology.
Here businesses need to prioritize the use cases that required attention on gaining full visibility into XIoT cybersecurity. Businesses can identify cyber threats in the network to mitigate risk and ensure the continuity of critical operational processes.
Digital Transformation
Connecting cyber-physical systems across the XIoT cybersecurity for automation and offers tremendous business value. That in turn influences improvements in operations efficiencies, performance, and service quality along with inviting more cyber risk to the business. The security vulnerabilities in pervasive applications is advantageous for cybercriminals to compromise all types of cyber-physical systems and connected XIoT assets putting business security at risk.
To overcome these security threats, IT professionals need to invest in building a strong cybersecurity foundation on the IT side in order to support the digital initiatives of the company. Following this process gives businesses an opportunity to act the same on the OT side by leveraging differences between OT and IT networks to their advantage. Businesses can leverage OT network traffic which will provide them with all the security information required to monitor cyber threats with the software version assets.
Also Read: Three Key Areas in Enterprise Cybersecurity to Focus on Before Entering 2023
Secure Remote Access
After the COVID-19 outbreak, remote work was the only option that businesses had to stay afloat. These situations influenced the unprecedented and sustained adoption of often-poorly secured remote access technologies.
They thus increased the connectivity between the companies and their OT networks with remote employees, third-party vendors’ devices, and the open internet, also increasing security threats as well. Therefore, OT professionals required frictionless, reliable access to boost mean time, repair and mitigate the risks associated with asset issues and maintenance.
It has become more important for businesses to safeguard their OT networks from threats that that arise from unmanaged and unmonitored access by remote workers, and act on repairing immediately since the exposures that can increase risk.
Even though businesses will be overwhelmed with the advantages of the XIoT, cybercriminals target the vulnerabilities linked to smart technology assets and devices.
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