Data management and cyber security come together to safeguard production

Production without errors and downtimes - the wish of every manufacturing company and the daily goal of the maintenance personnel. He has the big picture of systems, components and parts, knows the associated processes like the back of his hand and thus ensures that production runs as smoothly as possible. This is a great responsibility, which he now masters with digital support, of course. By networking systems and automating processes, errors can be detected early on or even avoided - smart maintenance is the keyword. But to do this, the modern maintenance engineer must always be able to rely on one thing above all else: The accuracy of the data.

The challenges facing digital production facilities are manifold. In order for error patterns to be identified and maintenance action to be efficiently planned out, vast quantities of data are required. This data needs to be extracted, collected, and analysed in order so that IT systems, software and hardware are able to function and work together smoothly. Without this, there is a serious risk of corrupted data inadvertently slipping into a system unnoticed; a situation which could, under the "right circumstances", have fatal consequences. The process of extracting, collecting and analysing data also helps to reduce the likelihood of deliberately corrupted data from entering a system. This is important because the act of connecting devices and datasets via the internet makes these once isolated areas obvious targets for cybercriminals.

Unwanted attacks on networks pose a serious risk to digitised production facilities. A production facility that has been brought to a standstill due to malfunctioning/manipulated software or data is the nightmare of every maintenance technician. The best way a company can safeguard themselves against such attacks is to implement a well-thought-out cybersecurity strategy. This cybersecurity strategy would entail such defence mechanisms as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, honeypots and in-house awareness training for staff. However, even with all of this, it is incredibly difficult for any company to completely safeguard themselves against all potential dangers as there will always be new hacker attacks. Is there a panacea or a single solution available? Unfortunately, there is not. However, if all else fails, a reliable data management system can help a company to weather the worst.

Regularly backed up data (e.g. taken from automated devices) can be used for disaster recovery if a cyberattack takes place. Meaning, it enables you to quickly find and restore a previous, error-free version. Making regular comparisons of project data can also help to identify cybersecurity attacks. This is done by comparing the data running on the device with the data taken from the last backup on the server. If both versions are identical, maintenance staff know that everything is as it should be. However, if differences are detected, this may be an indicator that a cybersecurity attack has occurred. Maintenance technicians may be able to come to a preliminary conclusion concerning the error source based on the way in which the data has been changed. Documenting changes to versions of data plays an important role when it comes to achieving this. It can also help to eliminate any uncertainty involved in determining whether a dataset has been intentionally or accidentally changed.

Disaster recovery can only be successfully carried out if the data in question was accurate to begin with. What's more, carrying out comprehensive and ongoing data backups requires a correspondingly substantial amount of effort. The maintenance technician goes from device to device carrying out backups and comparisons. However, it would be much easier if they had access to a data management system capable of performing all these tasks automatically for them. versiondog is a data management and version control system that allows you to schedule automatic backups and automatically compares versions with the latest version on the server. Authorised changes can be documented without a fuss and unauthorised changes can be quickly detected.

How versiondog can help you achieve a more robust cybersecurity strategy!