Ransomware has emerged as a pervasive threat to manufacturing operations . We have seen plant downtime due to ransomware . Targeted attacks always took down multiple plants at once , so the attacker could extort a high ransom payment .

Manufacturing is one of the most targeted industries , and attacks succeeded even when virus protection software and firewalls were in place , such as those recommended in the IEC 62443 standards . Once installed , organizations must pay attention to their antivirus software and firewall update notices so that they know when there is new ransomware being created .

There is no silver bullet that can provide complete protection . However , to mitigate the risks , manufacturing organizations should work with industry security experts to create effective cybersecurity plans to mitigate the risks . These plans should include a Ransom ware Readiness Assessment , which can save manufacturing organizations time and money if they get hit by ransomware .

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Ransomware Readiness Assessment

Standards like IEC 62443 were developed a while ago and lag behind current events . With this said , standards

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Intelligent CIO LATAM Issue 39 | Page 16

LATEST INTELLIGENCE RANSOMWARE READINESS ASSESSMENT FOR MANUFACTURING AT A GLANCE

Ransomware has emerged as a pervasive threat to manufacturing operations . We have seen plant downtime due to ransomware . Targeted attacks always took down multiple plants at once , so the attacker could extort a high ransom payment .