Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure and Manufacturing

By Chris Gerbing

Ransomware attacks are estimated to have cost $20 billion to companies, governments, and other organizations in 2021. [1] The estimated total cost of cyberattacks could grow to as much as $10.5 trillion by 2025. [2] The time to start your company’s cybersecurity journey is now.

The United States Government has mandated that critical infrastructure providers perform regular cybersecurity audits to remain in compliance[3] and has also announced initiatives aimed at protecting supply chains and coordinating responses to cyberattacks. [4]

While using many of the same tools, designs, and protocols, industrial network security is fundamentally different from corporate IT security. While there are no silver bullets to solve cybersecurity problems, a defense-in-depth approach, underpinned by the Cisco/Rockwell Automation/Panduit Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) architecture, offers the most secure, flexible, and reliable industrial network anywhere. Please view the Industrial Network Architecture section to obtain whitepapers on the CPwE concept, including architectures, use cases, and best practices.

Buckles-Smith and our partners, including Rockwell Automation, Cisco, Claroty, and others, can help your company address your cybersecurity needs. We can provide everything from low-cost Cybersecurity and network audits, switching, routing, and security appliances, secure remote access, to full network design, implementation, and remote management.

A great way to get started is a Claroty Edge assessment. It is a low-cost, fast way to get a snapshot of the state of your industrial network and provides actionable information immediately. Examine the figure below of a sample deployment architecture using Claroty Edge:

To learn more about this product and others we carry, watch our on-demand webinar, “Reducing Cybersecurity Risk.” We teamed up with Claroty to discuss options for protecting your industrial network and the mutual benefits of implementation.

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[1] https://cybersecurityventures.com/global-ransomware-damage-costs-predicted-to-reach-20-billion-usd-by-2021/

2] https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/03/09/cybercrime-could-cost-10-point-5-trillion-dollars-by-2025.html

[3] https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/executive-order-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity

[4] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/12/executive-order-on-improving-the-nations-cybersecurity/