What Are ways to future-proof your industrial control systems?

One of the most important aspects of keeping your industrial control system secure is ensuring that you have a plan in place as new technologies emerge. Industrial control systems are often referred to as an “edge” environment, which means they’re right at the edge of what’s technically possible. 

This has both positive and negative implications for cybersecurity—while it gives a company access to new technologies that might not be available elsewhere, it also means those systems are more susceptible to attack. Here are some ways you can future-proof your ICS:

Managing cybersecurity risk

Managing cybersecurity risk is a new and growing concern for industrial control systems (ICS) in the manufacturing industry, as evidenced by the fact that there are now many ways to manage cybersecurity risk.

For example, one of the easiest ways to start managing cybersecurity risk is by implementing a manual backup system that allows you to switch between different ICSs if your primary ICS becomes compromised. This can be done with a simple flip-switch or button on your control panel, which will then allow you to transfer all of your current settings over to whichever other machine is working at that time.

Another great way to manage cybersecurity risk is by using an automated backup system like ours here at Backups Alive!, which provides automated backups without any need for human intervention or oversight whatsoever! This means there’s virtually no chance of a human error occurring when restoring files from old backups – unlike other solutions out there!

Integrating new technology

You can future-proof your industrial control systems by integrating new technology.

New technologies such as 5G, edge computing and the Internet of Things are already being used to improve industrial control systems in a secure manner. Some examples of how to integrate these technologies include:

• This makes it better suited for remote monitoring and control applications such as those found in manufacturing environments.
• Edge computing—Edge computing refers to processing tasks performed closer to where they happen rather than at centralized data centres or servers located somewhere else on the network (known as “cloud” services). 

For example, if you want all your sensor readings collected from various sites across a production floor sent back via wireless connectivity instead of having them sent over fibre optic lines all the way back up into a central location where they’re aggregated together before being stored or analyzed.

Leveraging edge-computing environments

Edge computing is a way to improve the performance, reliability, security and scalability of industrial control systems. Edge computing allows you to offload computationally intensive tasks onto smaller edge devices that are closer to users—whether those users are human operators or machines themselves. This frees up larger central servers for other uses and reduces latency by allowing more-localized data processing.

Edge computing can be particularly beneficial in cases where industrial controls need to be highly reliable but don’t require high levels of computational power (e.g., controlling a manufacturing plant) or when there are many endpoints needing access to large amounts of data simultaneously (e.g., monitoring thousands of wind turbines).

Encouraging communication between departments

Communication is key to ensuring that your systems are future-proofed. If everyone on your team knows what’s going on, and they’re all working together toward a common goal, then you’ll be in a much better position to respond quickly when something goes wrong.

Think of communication as an information highway: the more people who use it, the faster and more efficient things will run. This doesn’t just apply internally—it’s also important to keep an eye out for new technology or innovations that can help improve communications externally as well!

Conclusion

When it comes to managing industrial control systems, there are a lot of factors that can be controlled. It all starts with educating yourself on the latest trends and best practices in cybersecurity and ensuring your ICS is protected from outside attacks. 

But beyond that, there are many other steps you can take to improve its longevity—like integrating new technologies into your network or moving some processes offsite, so they don’t rely on your physical infrastructure anymore. 

You can also ensure that employees at all levels of your organization know how important their role is when it comes to protecting our networks!