MHI Solutions Improving Supply Chain Performance
A cyberattack can happen to anyone and any company—even if you have cybersecurity programs in place. Hackers don’t just target big multi-national firms nor do they discriminate based on industry.
* By Katie Kuehner-Hebert *
A cyberattack can happen to anyone and any company—even if you have cybersecurity programs in place. Hackers don’t just target big multi-national firms nor do they discriminate based on industry.
Everyone is at risk and hackers are constantly finding new targets and refining the tools they use to break through cyberdefenses. And, if your company is part of a supply chain, not only do you have to take into consideration a direct attack, but also a cyberattack that could occur to any one of the companies in your supply chain—and that is a very real threat.
“It is a mistake to think, ‘It won’t happen here,’” said Rick Fox, president and CEO of MHI member FOX IV Technologies Inc. “FOX IV was hit with ransomware demanding thousands of dollars.” Fortunately, one of the company’s cybersecurity policies is to back up the entire system every night, Fox said. Moreover, the company’s email system is provided by a vendor that has a secure cloud-based platform.
“We were able to recover in three hours and not pay the ransom,” he said.
Cybersecurity policies are especially important when companies have remote access to their equipment at a customer plant, Fox said. “Nothing would be more devastating for the relationship than to inadvertently download a virus into your customer’s WMS,” he said. “In addition, they may need to consider intentional acts like a disgruntled employee coding a virus into the software,” said Fox.
Christian Dow, president of MHI member Panther Industries Inc., considers cybersecurity to be of paramount importance—for everyone’s sake. “We not only protect our own data, but also ensure that we are not a point of vulnerability for our customers,” Dow said. “As equipment OEMs, we need to protect customers by ensuring our devices are up to date and free of viruses or malware before implementation, service or training site visits.”