Tips for Making Your Manufacturing Process More Secure

Securing modern manufacturing isn’t optional—it’s mission-critical. As factories become smarter and more connected, threats increase in both number and sophistication. The good news: you can harden your environment with clear, actionable steps that protect uptime, IP, and customer trust. Use these tips to make your manufacturing process more secure and ensure the safety and success of your business.

Implement Access Controls and Authentication

Limit who can access what, and you cut risk fast. Segment user roles so operators, engineers, and admins only see the systems they need. Enforce strong, unique credentials and use multi-factor authentication for anything that manages production settings, OT gateways, or remote access.

Tie access to identity, log every login attempt, and remove stale accounts immediately when roles change or staff leave. You shrink the attack surface and stop unauthorized changes before they happen.

Conduct Regular Security Audits and Risk Assessments

You can’t fix what you don’t measure. Run scheduled audits across your OT and IT environments to find misconfigurations, exposed services, and outdated firmware. Map critical assets, assign risk levels, and validate that controls actually work. Test backup restoration, failover, and incident communication paths. Document findings, prioritize fixes by impact, and track progress over time so improvements stick.

Invest in High-End Cybersecurity

Modern plants need enterprise-grade protection. Encrypt data in transit between PLCs, HMIs, sensors, and cloud services, and encrypt sensitive data at rest on servers and historian systems. Build a secure network with firewall rules that default to deny, and implement an intrusion detection or prevention system tuned for OT protocols.

Add endpoint protection to engineering workstations and lock down USB ports. Deploy reliable backup solutions with offline copies and frequent verification so you can recover quickly if something goes wrong.

Partner With Third-Party Manufacturers You Can Trust

Your security extends beyond your walls. Outsourcing to an experienced manufacturer for rapid prototyping or other services can set your project up for success, but only if you partner with someone you trust.

Vet partners for strong security practices, from access control to patch management. Set clear requirements in contracts, restrict integrations to defined interfaces, and review how they handle data and credentials. Share only what’s necessary, rotate shared keys, and monitor partner connections. Trust matters, but verification protects your operations.

Strong security boosts reliability, safeguards IP, and keeps production humming. By investing in these security measures for your manufacturing process, you protect your investment and create a dependable foundation for every project you take on.