TechHub: The Year of Cyber Disasters, Manufacturing Technology Orders Back on Track & More

Ending 2017 Strong: Manufacturing Technology Orders Back on Track

Manufacturing technology orders in September continued their upward trend, ending the third quarter on a strong note, according to Industry Week.

The rise in orders in September surprised some analysts, who had expected orders to remain weak until December.

“Manufacturers are concerned about Washington’s impact on economic growth and pace of technological change, as well as the general evolution in technology. It is necessary for companies to invest in current technologies to stay competitive, but they’re doing so at a moderate pace,” said Doug Woods, President of the Association for Manufacturing Technology.

Regionally, the North Central West, Southeast and Northeast regions as reported by USMTO benefited from strong activity in contract machining shops, forging and stamping, automotive, and consumer electronics. Notably, orders from the consumer electronics and computers sector were up 132% nationally.

The key leading indicators for manufacturing technology are positive, leading analysts to believe there will be an acceleration in orders at the close of 2017.

The Year of Cyber Security Disasters

2017 was the year of industrial cyber attacks.

Ransomware crippled hospitals in the U.K., hit U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck, infiltrated Russian oil giant Rosnoft, shut down Ukrainian power grids and more.

Special Agent Keith Mularski, Unit Chief of the FBI Cyber Initiative & Resource Fusion Unit, spoke at GrayMatter’s annual conference on industrial cyber security.

Operational technology is at a risk in the digital age now more than ever before.

According to Gartner, “the number one issue in vulnerability management is that organizations are not prioritizing their patching and mitigating controls, nor are they mitigating the exploitation of commonly targeted vulnerabilities.”

Companies are struggling to find the common ground between “what can I fix” and “what will make the biggest difference in the time and resources I have.”

The answer: a risk-based approach.

CyberX’s ICS Attack Vector Prediction technology combines a deep understanding of industrial protocols, devices and applications with:

• ICS-specific asset discovery
• Continuous real-time monitoring and incident forensics
• Risk and vulnerability management
• Threat intelligence

“It helps business leaders and OT personnel quickly understand the top threats to their most critical industrial assets, and how to most efficiently reduce their top risks.”

This unique approach reduces complexity by addressing all four requirements of Gartner’s Adaptive Security architecture — Prediction, Prevention, Detection and Response — in a single, holistic platform.

“Our customers are often concerned about what they don’t know. CyberX’s Attack Vector Prediction technology allows them to predict and visualize scenarios for real-time planning of operational cyber strategy,” said Jim Gillespie, CEO of GrayMatter.

Learn more about implementing a predictive cyber approach

About CyberX

CyberX provides the most widely-deployed industrial cybersecurity platform for continuously reducing ICS risk. Supporting all OT vendors and seamlessly integrating with existing IT security tools, CyberX’s platform combines a deep understanding of industrial protocols, devices, and applications with ICS-specific asset discovery, continuous real-time monitoring and incident forensics, risk and vulnerability management, and threat intelligence.

GrayMatter VP on OT Cyber Security at 2017 ARC Industry Forum

GrayMatter VP Kemell Kassim speaks to Sid Snitkin, VP of Enterprise Advisory Services of ARC Advisory Group, during the 2017 ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, FL.