The assumption that manufacturing networks are secure because they're "air-gapped" or "isolated" represents one of the most dangerous blind spots in industrial cybersecurity today. Kevin Wood, Chief IIoT Architect (Global) at Cisco, regularly encounters operations teams confident in their network security until visibility tools reveal unknown devices and vulnerabilities they never suspected existed. He says the communication gap between these teams often stems from language barriers rather than fundamental disagreements about security priorities.

In his chat with ZJ, Kevin discusses how Cisco's approach to industrial networking leverages decades of enterprise security best practices adapted for manufacturing environments, including ruggedized hardware with conformal coating and native industrial protocol support. They also explore Kevin's framework for treating networks as the most powerful sensor environment in manufacturing operations, capable of detecting threats and automatically applying security policies based on device behavior and vulnerability profiles. His team's methodology focuses on building migration strategies that acknowledge the reality of brownfield manufacturing environments, where legacy machinery often comes with vendor-mandated networking requirements that create security vulnerabilities spanning decades-old operating systems that cannot be patched.

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