What Automation Designers Can Learn from Everyday Cyber Threats




At a time when automation has become the main driver of technological progress, the role of automation designers goes far beyond engineering processes.

With this change comes a new level of responsibility. Namely, ensuring the security of automated systems.

Cyber threats, which were previously mainly a problem for IT departments, now pose a serious threat to those involved in the design of automation systems. Knowledge of cyber security is becoming critical for every professional involved in the design of automated solutions.

Automation Designers in the New Cyber Environment: Their Role

Automated systems are increasingly under attack because they are vulnerable due to their complexity and integration with other networks. The designers who create these solutions have a unique opportunity to influence the overall level of automation security at the design stage. It is up to them to decide:

Many people still perceive cyber threats as something that should be dealt with exclusively by the IT department. However, this position is dangerous. Modern attacks increasingly use complex vectors that affect:

  • Programmable logic
  • Network architecture
  • Interaction with the Internet

Automation designers must include security in their design philosophy as an integral component of the system.

How ordinary user fraud can be a lesson for professionals

One of the most dangerous features of modern cyber threats is their simplicity and effectiveness. Many of them are designed to exploit human gullibility, inattention, and fatigue.

If a search scam can mislead millions of users through a simple message in a browser, what prevents similar principles from working in the context of automated systems?

Of course, this is a rhetorical question. One example that illustrates this point is the 5 billionth search scam.

This is a typical case of a browser scam warning. It tricks the user into believing that they have won a prize or that their browser is infected, prompting them to install suspicious software.

If such scams are effective on a mass scale, imagine the danger they pose in a corporate environment. It is important to understand how such tools work to recognize and remove scam components from projects at an early stage.

Lessons learned from such incidents can be incorporated into training for automation teams so that they understand how automated attacks and social engineering can bypass even the best technical defenses.

How Cyber Threat Cases Help Build Secure Systems

  • Industrial system incidents

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