Cybersecurity: how to use it wisely

Have you ever thought about the amount of information a single system holds? Nowadays with industry 4.0 and its pillars of big data, internet of things and cloud computing, the management of it is a real challenge. More than that, despite the amount of data, it’s crucial for people and industries to protect it.

This protection is called cybersecurity: the protection of systems, networks and programs from digital attacks. Cyberattacks usually have the purpose of destroying or changing important information, or even to stop processes and damage entire systems.

In this article you will understand better the types of cyberattacks and how to protect yourself and your workplace from them, how can cybersecurity be used and how is this related to compliance.

What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is what make possible to protect computers, servers, mobile devices, systems and networks from attacks. This term is applied to everything which is related to computer security and data protection.

Data is considered by industries and governments as an asset, and as well as they do to their properties, information is now part of the business and must be protected.

Types of Cybersecurity

The threats cybersecurity fights are usually:

• Virtual Crime: individuals or groups of criminals who attack systems to have money;
• Cyber war: usually is related to the collection of information and is motivated by politics issues;
• Virtual Terror: has as its goal the contamination of systems to cause panic or fear.

You have probably already experienced an attempt of invasion in your personal devices or even during your work. The most common methods used to do it are virus, worms, spywares and trojans.

While virus and worms are used to multiply inside a system and modify and damage it, the spywares and trojans are used to collect data without being noticed.

In an industrial environment that keeps many data stored using big data and cloud computing solutions, with the purpose of using them for strategic decisions, the need for keeping these information safe increases a lot.

How can devices and systems be protected?

There are some ways to protect devices and systems, which are widely used by individuals and industries as well.

1. To have a security plan;
2. Wireless network protection;
3. Purchase an antivirus solution.

Considering an industry, besides these basic cybersecurity systems and strategies, it is essential that people, processes and technology are a complement to one another and together create effective defense behaviors and routines to prevent cyber attacks.

Some interesting network security examples are:

• Extra logins;
• New passwords;
• Antivirus programs;
• Encryption of important data;
• Firewalls.

Cybersecurity and Industry 4.0

Because industry 4.0, as mentioned before, deals with so much data at once, this is closely related to cybersecurity.

For industries that are making use of industry 4.0 solutions such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Cloud Computing to integrate all systems, any cyberattack could impact a lot the business and should be prevented.

There are some examples of problems that may happen if cybersecurity is not used:

• Compromising physical security;
• Production downtimes;
• Products with low quality;
• Damaged equipment;
• Financial and reputational losses.

Cloud computing

When industries are considering using cloud computing to keep data out of physical servers there is the myth of it being less secure because when you store data physically you feel you can protect it better.

However, the truth is that cloud security is a tool in constant evolution and much safer than physical storage of data.

The same applies to the Internet of Things, which refers to a wide number of critical and non-critical cyber physical systems such as sensors, wifi routers, security cameras and movement detectors that communicate to one another.

These are important systems that must be protected, and cybersecurity solutions are available to make it happen.

Case studies

• AGC Glass Germany GmbH is a supplier to the automotive industry, and the company has been using the Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity solution in order to guarantee their process continuity. The industry processes automotive glass panels produced elsewhere in the group to make them meet customers’ needs.
• Pavlodar Oil Chemical Refinery (POCR LLP) is an oil industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan. POCR manufactures a wide range of petroleum products, including motor gasolines of various octane ratings, diesel, fuel oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, vacuum gas oil, commercial sulfur, various grades of bitumen (construction, paving, roofing) and petroleum coke. The company has many projects and investing in a cybersecurity solution is key for their business.

Current reality of cybersecurity

A study made by Honeywell in partnership with LNS Research called “Putting Industrial Cyber Security at the Top of the CEO Agenda” included the answers of 130 strategic decision makers in North America, Europe and other parts of the world.

The results show that 45% of the participants feel there is lack of a reliable leadership when the subject is cybersecurity.

Besides that, the problem is that 20% of those companies said they don’t have risk evaluation processes, and 25% never tested their own security barriers with test invasions.

Although this is the reality today, industries must not feel comfortable and simply wait for invaders to act against them. Cybersecurity is a prevention solution, to most of all, avoid damages and important losses.

Related to it, Matthew Littlefield, president of LNS Research, said that an operation model that allows digital transformation consists of excellence in people, processes and technological capacities, and as a consequence, creates cybersecurity in this model.

The relationship between cybersecurity and compliance

The first task here is to understand the concept of compliance. To comply with something is to act according the rules, follow the guidelines. It helps the whole system assure that the organization is following all regulations related to its business type.

In order to have compliance in all processes and people, guidance and frameworks must be offered and implemented, and having the culture of transparency and security of data is very important. When an industry can guarantee these two aspects, suppliers and consumers can trust this company and know that their information is safe with them to be used for the correct purposes.

A report from IBM and Ponemon Institute regarding costs of data breaches in 2017 show that more than 50% of breaches in that year were caused by people inside the companies or system glitches.

Another important number is that 40% of indirect costs of this kind of incident result in loss of customer loyalty and consequently, loss in business.

Therefore, having good cybersecurity solutions and really guarantee they are working is pretty important in order to keep the compliance of an industry.

Conclusion

As it was possible to realize during this article, cybersecurity is important and must be taken into account in any industry’s security strategy.

In the current world where even cars and kitchen appliances are connected to the internet, there are countless opportunities for cyberattacks and as a consequence big problems regarding these systems and all data related to them.

Similarly, in companies there is high chance a cybercrime happens and affects the whole business, the people and customers.

If you are already working with cybersecurity or facing any challenges related to it, share with us in the comments section below!