NEWS & EVENTS

June 21, 2017 Is your company’s secret sauce at risk?  The notion that Internet hackers might steal your company’s manufacturing processes and trade secrets is no longer a plot line from a Hollywood movie.  In fact, on line thieves recently stole a soon to be released movie, expected to gross $500 million, and demanded a ransom from the film studio.  If not paid, the hackers said they wo ...   Read More »

June 21, 2017

Is your company’s secret sauce at risk?  The notion that Internet hackers might steal your company’s manufacturing processes and trade secrets is no longer a plot line from a Hollywood movie.  In fact, on line thieves recently stole a soon to be released movie, expected to gross $500 million, and demanded a ransom from the film studio.  If not paid, the hackers said they would release the movie online with the thought of causing a severe dent to the studio’s box office receipts.

Protecting your assets, preaches Dr. Michael Tu, associate professor of computer information technology, Purdue University Northwest, requires every firm to establish a cyber security plan that will withstand challenges to hackers hoping to profit from your firm’s weak or non-existent defense system to your company’s computers.

According to National Public Radio, the malware known as Wanna Cry recently affected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries, including dozens of hospitals in Great Britain.

Rapid advances in computer technology have permitted manufacturing firms to increase their productivity and profitability.  But, that progress comes at a price.  Even though robust cyber security systems exist, Professor Tu says companies have not been aggressive in protecting their assets.

“Unprotected companies will be vulnerable to production line sabotage, data breach, and especially the theft of intellectual property on new design of products,” said Tu.

Effectively addressing the cyber security issues of industrial control systems, he said, “requires a clear understanding of the current smart manufacturing system vulnerabilities, attacks, and countermeasures.”

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Chris Bronk, associate director of the Center for Information Security Research and Education at the University of Houston, recommends that companies do the following:

-Retrain IT staff on security—or replace them

-Push everything to the cloud, and

-New IT investment will need baked-in security

It has been estimated, says Tu, that the resource efficiency and productivity of a company will increase by 18% in the next five years and the cost will be reduced by 2.6% annually. This will benefit small manufacturers even more due to their size and ability to move more quickly.

Tu added that Purdue University Northwest has a strong regional presence in cyber security research, education and outreach; he says the campus regularly works with government organizations and businesses in the Northwest Indiana and Chicago metropolitan area to fight cyber threats.

Purdue University Northwest is a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, designated by the National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security.