Planning the implementation of robotics cyber security in your company can be confusing. To make this process easier for you, here are the 7 key steps you need to follow!
1- Understand why cyber security is crucial for your business
Many companies disregard cyber security until they personally experience an attack, work accident, or similar malfunction. This often happens because people don't realize that you need not only a safe environment, but a secure one. So, the first step is to avoid assuming that the robots your company is using are already secured by the manufacturer or that your infrastructure integration is totally secure. Accept the existence of risks, and focus on prevention.
2- Get to know your system
Once you've committed to implementing robotics cyber security, the second step is understanding how your system works. To get a full overview of your infrastructure, you need to capture all your system’s elements (hardware, software, network…) and learn how they interact with each other. This will allow you to get an idea of your system’s vulnerabilities.
3- Search for your system’s possible vulnerabilities
Having an understanding of your system, you can now dive into threat analysis, which means discovering how and from where your system could be compromised (threats, attacks, entry points, attack surfaces..). In this step, you'll have an overview of the most vulnerable points in your system and the risks your company is exposed to.
4- Classify your threats and find mitigations for them
As we said at the beginning, prevention is the best response and at this point, you'll already have a list of your system's weakest points. Classifying them from the least dangerous to the most dangerous (severe) will be crucial. Having a deep knowledge of these threats allows you to look for mitigations, which means, finding the best way to protect your system against those risks.
5- Create a roadmap and start to take action
Knowing your threats' severity as well as its possible mitigations, gives you the chance to evaluate the actions that need to be taken from short to long term. It is essential to create a roadmap according to your robots’ risks and company’s resources to start implementing cyber security.
6- Invest on a security assessment that fits your needs
At this point, you may find yourself needing a specific assessment to guarantee complete security for your robot or infrastructure. If you reached this point, be certain that you are investing in the services that best suit your company’s needs.
7- Keep on iterating
As Alias Robotics loves to say, security is not a product, but a process. You will need to iterate on these steps more than once, to make sure your security remains up to date with your infrastructure.
Keep in mind that each robot, infrastructure, and company needs a specific solution. Do not try to apply “universal” solutions to your own case and situation. Investing in security can be costly at first, but will be very beneficial in the long run.
We recommend that you find a security partner that guides you along the way and helps you secure your company. At Alias Robotics, we are committed to support companies applying cyber security solutions, for which we offer the most complete services.
