Indsutrial Safety and IIT Security The Treat Is Real
Published on : Wednesday 01-05-2019
The Bhopal Gas Disaster of 1984, when about 30 tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas escaped into the atmosphere on the night of December 2, killing thousands and maiming many more for life, is considered to be the world’s worst industrial disaster.
Negligence – ignoring key safety requirements – was a major reason that caused the disaster. Specific plant management deficiencies that were identified included lack of skilled operators, reduction of safety management, insufficient maintenance, and inadequate emergency action plans. That was nearly 35 years ago. While the safety standards have improved and the industry today is more aware of the regulations, one important lesson from the tragedy is no safety measures that can prevent an accident if there is not a safety culture governing the behaviour of management and employees. Today, when digitisation of data is a rising trend and the industry is in the early days of digital transformation, India is not a very safe place in terms of cybersecurity. In fact according to a recent cybersecurity ranking of 60 nations by Comparitech, a consumer tech review firm, India is among the least cyber-secure countries in the world, ranked 46 among 60 countries that were under review. This has serious implications if one considers the fact that today, safety is inevitably linked to IT security of the establishment. A malware attack can cripple a plant or cause havoc in terms of environmental damage.
In August 2018, Gartner predicted that worldwide information security spending is likely to exceed $124 billion in 2019, which is an increase of 8.7 per cent from the previous year. According to 2017 Gartner survey, the top three drivers for security spending are security risks; business needs; and industry changes. Privacy concerns are also becoming a key factor. Gartner believes privacy concerns will drive at least 10 per cent of market demand for security services through 2019 and will impact a variety of segments, such as identity and access management (IAM), identity governance and administration (IGA) and data loss prevention (DLP).
The Cover Story this month – Industrial Safety and IT Security – is exploring some of the key concerns about how vulnerable are the systems, what the remedies are, and how can enterprises safeguard their people and assets. In the connected plant environment, even personnel safety is linked to automated warning and evacuation procedures which can be compromised in the event of a cyber attack. As one of the experts says: Cyber attacks such as data breach, DDoS, malware, etc., will not only result in the loss of confidential and proprietary information, breach of trust and brand damage, but might result in a catastrophe as it greatly involves loss of workers’ lives and safety. This editorial is from the magazine for the month of feb 2020 to here from the experts & industry proffessionals subscribe now by visiting this link.(https://www.industrialautomationindia.in/subscription)
