Cyber security: Boutique vulnerabilities

Manufacturing organizations today face an increasing number of new cyber security threats, and many require urgent action to shore up defenses, typically but not exclusively through patching. Several of these so-called ‘boutique vulnerabilities’ have appeared in recent years – WannaCry, BlueKeep, DejaBlue to name a few – and each has required unplanned, near-term action to address.

These efforts are disruptive, diverting IT (enterprise information technology) and OT (operational technology/process control) resources away from other work and resulting in ad hoc impacts to manufacturing, as equipment outages are required to complete patching and related work.

With each new challenge, organizations are working to improve their response and reduce the time and effort required. Companies are all investing in routine patching where possible, reducing this activity in urgent situations, as well as investing in other mitigation options such as isolation where appropriate – more options means reduced impact. This paper provides a summary of what the members of the BioPhorum IT Cyber Security Workstream are doing.