Automation industry report on information security

2014 was a year of high profile cyber attacks. In fact, in the UK alone, 81% of large corporations and 60% of small businesses reported they had a breach in cyber security last year.

Reacting to this worrying trend, the manufacturing industry has very slowly started to invest more time and money in information security. However, more education and training is required across industry, from the factory floor to top management. European Automation's special report seeks to raise awareness among manufacturers about cyber security threats.

"The cyber threat has been rising steadily in recent years and although investment in information security has seen an increase in the industrial products sector, much more is needed," explained Jonathan Wilkins, Marketing Manager, European Automation. "There is a common misconception that hackers are responsible for all cyber attacks and therefore businesses that don’t see themselves as attractive targets don't need to invest in information security. In reality, the majority of incidents stem from human error and we'd argue that a large number of these are not down to malicious intent, but rather lack of security knowledge."

This is the third of six industry reports European Automation is planning over the next six months. The subsequent ones will focus on collapsing automation architecture, M2M communication and sustainability. All the industry reports will be available for download on European Automation’s website in the special reports section.