By Andrew Kling

As the Industrial Internet of Things continues to transform the global industrial manufacturing and critical infrastructure industries, the threat of aggressive, innovative and dangerous cyber-attacks has become increasingly concerning.

Related: The top 7 most worrisome cyber warfare attacks

Adopting modern technology has revealed a downside: its interconnectedness. The vast web of connectivity has expanded the number of potential entry points for hackers. Unfortunately, you can never trust your systems are safe from intrusion. Many of today’s progressively bold, innovative attacks are perpetrated by malicious actors, such as nation-states, who have unlimited time, resources and funding.

One year ago, cybersecurity experts discovered the world’s first known cyberattack on a safety instrumented system. This incident, most commonly referred to as Triton, remains a call to action for the global industrial process and manufacturing industry.

In the year since this attack, the industry has taken a step forward in cyber preparedness. We see plant asset owners addressing cyber risks with more vigilance, and vendors hardening their solutions with cybersecurity built directly into the product offer.

These are important and positive steps. But there is a long way to go; so, where should we focus our attention?

Resiliency needed

Building cybersecurity resilience is an ongoing pursuit, one that ensures our systems and assets operate reliably and safely—at all times—in our digital world. Fifteen years ago, the cyber threats we all face today were unimaginable.

But the business synergies and financial implications of implementing interconnected, automated industrial systems make it a no-brainer for manufacturers to pursue. However, it’s a risk/reward situation, and as an industry, we must continuously address the threat of cyber warfare in this pervasively connected world.

Many of the legacy, pre-IIoT critical infrastructure systems we installed decades ago, when cybersecurity wasn’t even …more