Modern manufacturing industries are increasingly adopting the latest in technology for greater levels of efficiency and connectivity, but for as many benefits as this connectivity provides, it also creates new and compounding data security vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
Data security has become a top priority for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), as these vulnerabilities coupled with increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats leave them at greater risk for devastating cyberattacks.
How are OEMs securing critical edge and data from sensors in an expanding cyberthreat landscape?
OEMs and the Need for Robust Cybersecurity
An Original Equipment Manufacturer is a company that manufactures and sells parts and equipment to other manufacturers that then incorporate those components into their own product to be marketed to end-users. The term most often applies within the automotive and computer industries.
OEMs are a fundamental part of the supply chain — any breaches in data security involving their equipment could have far-reaching impacts, all the way to the final product or service used by consumers. OEMs are often seen by cybercriminals as a bridge to reach larger connected clients.
An integral technology used by OEMs today is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The Industrial Internet of Things edge is where devices and sensors communicate realtime data to a network. The problem is, every device connected to a network, and the data transmitted over that network, becomes highly vulnerable to cyberattacks.
OEMs must handle and store large amounts of valuable data, managing considerable IT and OT operations — and very often, they lack the resources needed to sufficiently address cybersecurity. A weakness in cybersecurity exposes OEMs to significant risks, including compromised intellectual property, higher operational costs, liability issues, reduction in sales revenue, and tarnished brand value.
Clearly, it is critical for OEMs to seek out robust solutions to safeguard data.
How Can OEMs Secure Data and Reduce the Risk of Cyberattacks?
Once an OEM understands its cybersecurity vulnerabilities, effective counteractive measures can be implemented. But staying ahead of today’s expanding cyberthreat landscape requires the adoption of the very best in data security technology.
Malicious cybercriminals today are continually devising more ingenious attack strategies. Advances in mathematics are happening all the time. Quantum computing is on the horizon. All of this means our long-established encryption techniques are becoming increasingly vulnerable and easier to crack.
Vulnerabilities in current cryptography have much to do with the level of secrecy and robustness of the cryptographic keys used to protect data. So, for the highest level of security, keys must have the following qualities:
Keys must be unique – With typical encryption methods, large data volumes are managed by using a single key, or the same key is used repeatedly for different repositories of data. For maximum data security, each unique item of encryption must be encrypted with a different unique key, used only once.
Keys must be long – Our math alphabet only supplies ten numerals to work with, which means numerals are quickly reused. More complex digital files call for commensurately longer keys; the longer the key, the more inherent possible combinations, and the harder it is to decode.
Keys must be random – Current encryption methods very often have insufficient entropy; key-generation that produces keys containing buried patterns subject to deciphering. Even long keys and sound algorithms cannot make up for weak keys without the genuine randomness required for the highest level of data security.
While OEMs and the manufacturing industry at large are indeed more and more becoming prime targets of cyberattacks, there are now better data encryption solutions available that provide OEMs with the opportunity to be proactive in implementing the most optimal data security risk management strategies to prepare for future threats.
The Strongest Data Encryption Solutions Available for OEMs
For OEMs looking to better secure edge and data from sensors for a better protected enterprise, a next-generation solution has arrived — Theon Technology employs an advanced mathematical equation to propagate truly random, high-entropy cryptographic keys at scale leveraging proprietary software.
Theon’s Random Number Generator, TheonRNG™, exploits the proven properties of large irrational numbers, exposing the security flaws that may be present in current RNGs — apparently random numbers that conceal predictable submerged patterns — and rendering them comparatively obsolete.
Theon’s TheonEncrypt™ delivers, for the first time, a commercially viable One Time Pad (OTP), providing an innovative way to reduce the OTP key storage and transmission overhead, making it scalable and practical for deployment across multiple use cases.
Game-changing data encryption for OEMs is here, with Theon.
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Don’t leave your data defenseless; more secure data encryption for OEMs is available now — Contact a Theon expert to take control of your edge and sensor data security today. We also have free eBooks available for download, including our OTP primer, OTP for the Digital Enterprise.