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ManufacturingSecurity

Manufacturer Secures OT/IT Environment

Industrial Equipment Manufacturer
Detroit, MI
450 employees
6 months
75%
attack surface reduction
Started:Oct 2023
Duration:6 months
Completed:Apr 2024

The Challenge

Precision Manufacturing Corp operates three plants producing critical components for automotive and aerospace customers. When a competitor was shut down for two weeks by a ransomware attack, their customers demanded immediate security improvements.

The challenge was complex: 15-year-old PLCs and SCADA systems couldn't be patched or replaced without $10M+ investment. These legacy systems were directly connected to the corporate network-IT could ping production equipment from their desks.

Any security project had to guarantee zero production impact. A single hour of unplanned downtime cost $150K in direct costs plus potential customer penalties for missed shipments.

Our Approach

1

OT Asset Discovery & Risk Assessment

Week 1-4

Performed passive network discovery to map all OT assets without disruption. Identified 340+ devices including 45 with critical vulnerabilities.

2

Network Segmentation Design

Week 4-8

Designed Purdue Model-based segmentation with DMZ between IT and OT. Created traffic flow requirements with plant engineers.

3

Phased Implementation

Week 8-20

Deployed industrial firewalls and segmentation during planned maintenance windows. Implemented over 6 weeks with zero production impact.

4

Monitoring & Vendor Access

Week 20-26

Deployed OT-aware monitoring, implemented secure remote access for equipment vendors, and created incident response runbooks.

Solution Overview

OT/IT network segmentation, industrial firewall deployment, secure remote access for vendors, vulnerability management, and incident response planning.

The Results

Achieved OT/IT network isolation
99.9% production uptime maintained
Reduced attack surface by 75%
Passed customer security assessments

Business Impact

Deals Enabled
Passed 4 customer security assessments
Productivity Gain
Zero production impact during implementation
Risk Reduction
75% attack surface reduction

"PlatOps understood our unique challenges. They secured our systems without impacting production."

J
James Mitchell, Plant Manager
Industrial Equipment Manufacturer

"Our biggest customer said our security posture now exceeds many larger suppliers. That's a competitive advantage."

W
William Chen, VP of Operations
Industrial Equipment Manufacturer

Key Takeaways

  • OT security must prioritize availability over confidentiality
  • Passive discovery is essential-active scans can crash legacy systems
  • Vendor remote access is often the biggest security gap
  • Customer security requirements are driving manufacturing security investment

Key Outcome

75%
attack surface reduction

Technologies Used

Palo Alto NetworksClarotyCyberArkNozomi Networks

Compliance Frameworks

NIST CSFIEC 62443CMMC Level 2

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