A lot of us have started tuning out cyber risks
Everybody is getting hacked all of the time. Individuals’ have their credit card information stolen, small businesses’ computer systems are coopted for nefarious purposes, schools and hospitals and oil pipelines have their computer systems held hostage for ransom, Denial of Service and Distributed Denial of Service hacks prevent companies from using the internet or prevent customers from accessing their web and e-commerce sites, princes in far off lands need you to wire them $1000, and they will repay you 100 times over. The list goes on and on. In fact, it has become so noisy a lot of us have started tuning it out.
OT professionals are on the front line of cyber security and cannot afford to let their guard down. Retailers, Schools, Universities, Pharmaceutical Companies, Hospitals, Government Institutions, and you are prime hacking targets. 1. You are well known around the world, and hackers view you as their great white whale. Hacking into a major target will get your work publicized in newspapers around the world. 2. Everyone knows you store private customer or student or patient information and credit card details on your network. Those details are worth huge money on the dark web. In other words, hackers gain fame and wealth – the best of the best are coming after you.
Hacks and cyber security breaches are particularly costly for highly recognized and trusted organizations.
They tend to make top headlines not just for a day or two but for months or years. CEOs and CTOs have been forced to resign. Customers lose faith in their favorite organizations when their data is stolen, and hard costs can climb to hundreds of millions in cash settlements alone.
What does this have to do with OT?
Having 3rd party vendors on the corporate or organization network is a major security risk, and OT often has quite a few 3rd party vendors on the network. My next blog is about the security concerns involved in allowing vendors on the network. In the meantime, you can read about the 7 largest hacks caused by vendors operating on your network here.
- Retailers, Schools, Universities, Pharmaceutical Companies, Hospitals, Government Institutions, and you are prime hacking targets.
- Hacks and cybersecurity breaches are particularly costly for highly recognized and trusted organizations.
- OT professionals for multi-site organizations and companies are on the front line of cybersecurity and cannot afford to let their guard down.