Cybersecurity for manufacturing plants
Factories used to be safe from hackers because their machines were not connected to anything. That is no longer true. Production systems now share data with ERP, cloud analytics and remote vendors, so ransomware that starts on an office PC can reach the line.
What a plant manager should worry about
The obvious cost is downtime. If the manufacturing execution system (MES, the software that schedules and tracks production) or the machine controllers stop, output stops and orders ship late. Some incidents are worse. A tampered controller can damage equipment, spoil a batch or put workers at risk. Design files, recipes and supplier data are also valuable to competitors and counterfeiters.
Customers are paying attention as well. Global brands and automotive OEMs now ask suppliers about cybersecurity in audits and contracts. IEC 62443, the international standard for industrial control system security, is the usual reference point.
Questions we answer for you
Can an attacker in the office reach the plant floor?
We test the firewalls, jump hosts and shared servers that sit between IT and OT (operational technology, the systems that control physical processes).
Can someone change what the machines do?
We check SCADA systems, PLCs (programmable logic controllers, the small computers that run machines) and HMIs (operator screens) for commands that need no login and for logic that can be altered. We also check whether production data can be copied out of the historian, the database that records plant readings.
How do vendors get in?
Remote access tools, VPNs and forgotten vendor accounts are a frequent entry point. We find them and test them.
Are your designs protected?
We review how CAD and product lifecycle data is stored and shared, and look at the risk of counterfeit firmware entering through the supply chain.
Could you recover?
We test backups and recovery for the systems production depends on.
Testing without stopping the line
We start with passive discovery, which listens to network traffic without sending anything to the machines. Anything riskier is tried first in a lab or on a test cell. Rules of engagement are agreed with plant operations, and scope is set per plant and OT zone. The work is planned with your team so that production is not interrupted.
Each finding is rated in plant terms: downtime, safety and quality. Findings are mapped to IEC 62443, ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2, and we retest before your next production window. Our Security Operations Center (SOC) can also help you design monitoring for OT and test your backup and recovery process.
Snipeyes is CREST-accredited and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, and our testers work to IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82 and MITRE ATT&CK for ICS. We work with discrete and process manufacturers, FMCG plants, automotive suppliers and industrial estate operators.