Dr. Chris Brennan, Regional Director DACH, Eastern Europe, Russia and Israel at Skybox Security

"The results of the study, which was primarily conducted among small and medium-sized companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector, show that one of Germany's most important industrial sectors is often not adequately protected against cyber attacks. The protection of production or OT (Operational Technology) networks in particular is elementary for this sector - after all, value creation is primarily derived from them. Attacks on OT networks can have far-reaching effects on a company's success, such as production stoppages or damage to production facilities.

In the worst case, they can also lead to personal injury in production environments - a potential impact that is given too little attention. Despite everything, the respondents see the greatest potential for damage in the loss of confidential company data and personal information.

Threat increases due to increasing convergence of IT and OT networks
The threat scenario has become and continues to become even greater due to the convergence of IT and OT infrastructure and the effects of attacks can have even more far-reaching consequences than in the days when OT networks were still operated in silos. Back then, less importance was placed on security aspects - which in today's threat landscape must lead to OT networks being given special attention and security being declared a top priority. Today, complex and IT-connected production environments offer many more access points to the network. Sensors and remote maintenance access as well as older IT systems that are used to monitor and manage OT devices are just some of the aspects that need to be kept in mind here. The current threat situation clearly shows that cyber attacks are no longer a distant scenario, but a very real one.

Cyber security must become a top priority
This makes it all the more incomprehensible that around half of the companies surveyed in the mechanical and plant engineering sector have not placed responsibility for this topic at the top level of the company. Almost 50 percent of the companies surveyed are also still equipped with outdated security systems against cybercrime: a gateway for hackers and cyber criminals who, in addition to stealing data, can also drive entire production landscapes into chaos or shut them down.

When defending against cyber attacks, companies must step out of reactive mode in the area of OT security and tackle the challenge strategically, proactively and, above all, quickly. They need to gain an overview of the entire attack surface - from physical IT and OT networks to multi-cloud networks. This can be achieved by cybersecurity platforms that automatically collect information passively and comprehensively model all networked environments, including the OT network. Risks can thus be minimized in good time and attacks come to nothing. A "business as usual" approach simply disregards the massively changing threat landscape for cyber attacks and gambles with reputation, business success and, in the worst case, the safety of people."