Making this point, the paper mentions, “Customers need to connect and protect their industrial assets with solutions that enable the convergence of networking and security, simplify and standardize network management, and leverage software capabilities to automate tasks and enhance visibility”. Therefore, the paper suggests, “Industrial network standardization is the key to unlocking advanced software capabilities at scale, including automation, threat defense, network management, and new requirements for industrial AI use cases”, and that “Many current installations are made up of a patchwork of difficult-to-scale point-based solutions acquired individually over time to meet the needs of specific applications or processes”. A new ARC Advisory Group ARCView paper describes that the demand for robust and reliable networking solutions in industrial environments is higher than ever, and three key factors are at the forefront of this growth: embedded security, IT-OT integration, and artificial intelligence (AI). We integrate security directly into our industrial network devices, with visibility, segmentation, and zero-trust remote access built as software functions right into our switches and routers. Recognizing the network’s central role in industrial operations, the paper stresses that as operations are increasingly targeted with cyberthreats through the network, it is important for the network itself to be able to recognize and report such attacks. The paper notes that legacy systems, point solutions, and multiple management systems create significant operational complexity limiting scalability and increasing security vulnerabilities. In the ARCView paper, Chantal Polsonetti, Vice President, Advisory Services at ARC, writes that organizations increasingly view the network as a critical enabler of the digital transformation necessary for meeting mounting macroeconomic, competitive, and regulatory challenges. The key to removing point solutions, thereby simplifying the architecture and improving security, is to embed security functions within the network itself as software applications. Incorporating OT, IT, and security priorities into the network equipment itself eliminates the need for point products, simplifies network’s deployment and management, and helps eliminate gaps in defense.
This Cyber News was published on feedpress.me. Publication date: Tue, 01 Oct 2024 16:43:06 +0000