2.2
Why is industrial security so important?
The topic of data security and access protection (security) is becoming more and more
important in industrial environments. The progressive networking of entire industrial plants,
the vertical integration and networking of the individual levels of a company, and new
technologies, such as remote maintenance and remote access, are leading to increased
requirements for protecting industrial plants.
The threats are diverse and the consequences far-reaching.
Possible threats:
● Espionage of data, recipes, etc.
● Sabotage of production plants
● System stoppage, e.g. due to virus infection and malware
● Manipulation of data or application software
● Unauthorized use of system functions
Possible effects of a security incident
● Loss of intellectual property
● Loss of production or reduced product quality
● Company image and economic damage
● Catastrophic environmental influences
● Danger to persons and machines
2.2.1
Trends in the IT sector
Overview
There are many new trends which affect industrial security:
● Cloud computing in general
The number of network connections across the world is constantly increasing. This enables
innovations such as cloud computing and the applications that go hand in hand with it. In
conjunction with cloud computing, there has been a massive increase in the number of
mobile devices, such as mobile phones and tablet PCs.
● Wireless technology
On the other hand, the increasing use of mobile devices has only become possible thanks
to the ubiquitous availability of mobile networks. Wireless LAN is also becoming
increasingly available.
● Smart Grid
Networking is not only limited to data networks, it also influences our energy infrastructure.
Industrial security
2.2 Why is industrial security so important?
SIMOTION P320-4 E / P320-4 S
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Manual, 03/2018, A5E36004933B
