This is how your day gets ruined: Malware enters your computer network via email and spreads like a virus, threatening to hold your production line hostage until you cough up a ransom. You pay it because why? Your bottom line suffers for every hour your supply chain is compromised.
It’s a scenario that’s playing out more and more for the just-in-time manufacturing sector. In fact, manufacturers, government and financial firms are now at the top of hacker’s hit lists.
According to a recent IEN article, production lines that integrate computer-imaging, barcode scanners and measuring tolerances to a hair’s width at multiple points are most vulnerable to cyber-criminals.
So how to protect yourself? Follow these tips from Wired magazine.
- Back up important data daily in the cloud
- Train staff to ignore suspicious emails and links
- Invest in mitigation strategies such as app whitelisting, patching apps and patching operating systems (OSes)
- Keep third-party plug-ins like Java and Flash up to date
For more information, check out this ransomware hostage manual.