Industrial wireless applications are being used more and more by leading manufacturers and operators to improve availability and reduce costs. That sounds great, but before considering it for your facility, you might be wondering how difficult it is to make sure industrial wireless networks are secure.

The top priority of control professionals is making sure that automation networks are operating reliably and safely. Security in this context involves using Defense in Depth techniques to protect critical control assets and safety systems -- as well as the entire manufacturing, process control or transportation environment.

Forecasters predict that the Internet of Things (IoT) will increase the number of machines, appliances and devices connected to the Internet from the current five billion to 80 billion by 2020. Greater connectivity means more knowledge, which means increased opportunities – and it all revolves around security.

As a reader of this blog you know that cybersecurity has been increasing in importance in industrial facilities since the discovery of Stuxnet in 2010. Now along comes the IIoT with its increased numbers of connected devices and links to the Internet and business systems.

A proper network design can be the difference between a secure, rugged process that keeps running smoothly or a nightmare that is not reliable. In a manufacturing enterprise the industrial network is often unnoticed or unappreciated. Yet a poorly designed network can take away from the bottom line.