The biggest threat to operations
Victor Lough, Cybersecurity Business Lead at Schneider Electric, speaks to The Manufacturer about the new NIS 2 legislative changes and the impact of this on the supply chain.
Victor’s role is to ensure that Schneider’s solutions and services are being delivered to the UK and Ireland business sector from a security perspective, as well as collaboratively with the government and market peers. Alongside this, he is raising awareness of ransomware and it being the current biggest threat to company operations.
In the UK industrial sector, there is currently a lot of collaborative work taking place around the government’s objective to make the UK the most secure location in the world to do business with. “In the last couple of years, the industry has seen a drive to ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction. And the government is revising its Network and Information Security Directive-related legislation, aligning with the EU’s 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 cyber security 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.
There have been numerous changes that have impacted the sector over the last five years, specifically geopolitics, and they have influenced how businesses operate.
Because of the recent disruption, the sector has seen a stark increase in the level of ransomware attacks. “Ransomware is the biggest threat to operations right now and it is making annual profits of over $1bn per year, with more money being made from ransomware than narcotics,” Victor commented. He emphasised the call for regulation due to the fact that ransomware is being run like a business; sophisticated operations with product managers, technicians and specialists who are often backed by nation states.
Ransomware and a risk-based approach
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