Cyber security: Information technology vs operations technology - a BioPhorum article

In pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, as well as in other industry manufacturing, there exists a landscape that presents the juxtaposition of two historically disparate groups and technology paradigms; that of business management of information systems, and that of plant-floor instrumentation and controls engineering. Each provide key functions that support relatively independent, yet complimentary business objectives, however they are only linked through people and the business processes to enable supply of drug products. In the context of network resiliency and cybersecurity, in the current landscape there is much more interdependence of the technologies, and therefore the people.

This paper characterizes this framework, and the associated mixed environments, to illustrate the drivers and success metrics for each function. For those people working in this arena, this paper will help develop an understanding of this landscape and foster a cooperative approach to implementing network resilience and cybersecurity solutions that allow more robust and secure delivery of essential drug products to the market.