Think ahead: Build a system on security

Manufacturing is always looking to squeeze as much out of the process as possible. Increased productivity and lower productions costs means a hike in profitability, which is what it is all about.
But if someone can hack into your system, just how much profit do you think you will make? The answer to that question is simple. None. Manufacturers have systems and then they think about adding in some security.
That is where manufacturers have to start thinking a bit differently. The foundation for their systems has to be secure. Security can not be an after thought; in these cyber-focused days, it needs to be the first thing a manufacturer has to think about before putting together their systems.
“It is amazing how fragile we are underneath,” Green Hills Software Director of Networking Solutions Sue Hares said today at the Green Hills Software Technology Summit 2008 in Santa Barbara, Calif. “We have to include security from the ground up. Operating systems are vulnerable and firewalls do not solve the problem. You need to change the paradigm.”
How hostile is the world today? She asked. Over 150 million records were breached over the past three years, she said. “Cyber crime is becoming a for hire business that is as easy as point, click and hack.”
Sometimes to ensure a different outcome true leaders have to look outside their cozy safe comfort zone.
“Change will not come from within the industry,” said Dan Perrier, president of Automated Control systems Inc., a Vancouver, Wash.-based system integrator that focuses on the power industry. “Sometimes we have to model other industries. To force change in your industry, sometimes you have to look outside your industry.”
Rest assured though, change has to occur.
“Everything we have is based on computer systems and basically they are not secure,” said Dan O’Dowd, founder and chief executive at Green Hills Software. “They are in charge of everything in our lives and they are not secure. They are in charge of our money, our privacy, our democracy and our lives.”
Instead of building a system and then checking it for security, they should start with security then build the system, said Jimmy Sorrells, vice president of enterprise products at Integrity Global Security a subsidiary of Green Hills Software. Instead of building a system focused on functionality, performance and then adding in security, Sorrells said security first. A system should start with security then add in functionality and then performance. This way you have a solid base to add a secure future.
“Security is backwards; it is broken,” Sorrells said. “Security is the first thing you should do. You get security by building security.”
While it is easy to feel everyone is out to get you and you should fear everything, but it is not all doom and gloom for O’Dowd. “In 10 years we can have a safe infrastructure that we can bet our lives on everyday.”