Posted to News on 5th Mar 2024, 08:35
Industry must enhance cybersecurity practices
In the wake of upcoming NIS 2 legislative changes that will impact the whole supply chain, Schneider Electric cybersecurity solutions and services business lead Victor Lough is urging businesses to enhance cybersecurity practices against a backdrop of a dynamic legislative landscape.
(See Schneider Electric at MachineBuilding.Live, 2 October 2024, on stand 124)
Cyberattacks are a clear and present danger in the UK, with manufacturing and utilities increasingly targeted by sophisticated methods. Due to the severity of the threat, the Government is revising its Network and Information Security Directive-related legislation, aligning with the EUs own NIS 2 update.
The changes will have implications for the whole supply chain, requiring a wide ecosystem of essential service providers and manufacturers to rapidly advance cybersecurity maturity to minimise risk. In both the UK and EU, connected businesses throughout the supply chain will be expected to be cyber secure, with responsibility extending to friendly third parties connected to systems through remote access. For utilities, this is especially crucial as any business involved in the supply chain risk huge fines.
Schneider Electrics cybersecurity assessments entail a holistic defence-in-depth approach which encompasses everything from technology to human factors, how systems are delivered, how assets are maintained and secured, and how to deliver improved resilience over the medium to long term.
This approach meets the same requirements as NIS 2 in many ways however is driven by outcome and aims to go beyond minimum requirements. Schneider Electric is especially well positioned to help industrial organisations of all sizes, regardless of their digital maturity, in navigating the complex legislation changes while protecting operations.
Lough says: The upcoming legislation changes will have lasting implications for the entire industrial ecosystem. The scale and scope of the threat may be evolving but NIS 2 raises the bar for security standards, preparing essential industries and securing their operations.
Schneider Electric is on a mission to support businesses across the board as they move beyond just NIS 2 compliance and into better protected utilities, future-proofing operational assets to be more resilient to changed threats.
