Council Post: Lack Of Cybersecurity Consideration Could Upend Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 signifies a seismic shift in the way the modern factories and industrial systems operate. They consist of large-scale integration across an entire ecosystem where data inside and outside the organization converges to create new products, predict market demands and reinvent the value chain. In Industry 4.0, we see the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) at scale. The convergence of IT/OT is pushing the boundaries of conventional corporate security strategies where the focus has always been placed on protecting networks, systems, applications and processed data involving people and information. In the context of manufacturing industries with smart factories and industrial systems, robotics, sensor technology, 3D printing, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data platforms work in tandem to deliver breakthrough efficiencies.