Facility managers use building control systems to improve efficiency in their buildings. Unfortunately, the greater use of this technology means a greater prevalence of cybersecurity attacks. In the past three years, there has been a significant increase in the number of cyber-attacks.
Facility managers often think cybersecurity is a problem for the IT department, but in reality, operational technology (OT) systems interact with the physical world and could cause harm to humans. That’s a big reason why facility managers need to take responsibility for cybersecurity efforts. And frankly, many attackers are getting in through the applications used to run HVAC, fire/life safety, security and others.
In this video, Dan Weltin, editor in chief of the facility market sits down with Fred Gordy, director, OT Risk Assessment for Michael Baker International. The two discuss the threat of cybersecurity attacks and how to prevent them. Gordy shares that the first step is to make sure the application hosts used to run the facility — whether it’s the HVAC or lighting or whatever — is used for what’s it’s intended and not also used for personal reasons like surfing the web or checking email. That can open the door for attackers and most often is how they get into your facility.
In this video, you’ll learn:
Why cybersecurity is part of a facility manager's responsibility (0:35)
Why there has been an increase in cybersecurity attacks (1:25)
The types of facilities that are more likely to experience an attack (2:38)
Some steps facility managers can take to prevent a cybersecurity attack (4:02)
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