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Vol 32 - No 03 - May 2006 Information Security in the Manufacturing World Typically, when thinking about the subject of information security, if we think about it at all, we assume that it is only a problem for banks, hospitals, despotic governments and intelligence agencies. It has nothing to do with manufacturing! This could not be further from reality; a cavalier attitude to information security, and the consequences of not protecting information assets, could close the plant. Ask yourself the question, “How long could this organisation function without issuing and receiving parts, invoicing, shipping, meeting payroll, raising shop orders, designing products etc?” Generally not very long, assuming that the information systems are designed to be a tool to assist in meeting customer requirements. Information security is a balance between ‘confidentiality’, ‘availability’ and ‘integrity’ of information; all organisations have different needs in this respect and all organisations must decide for themselves the appropriate balance. Information, to be usable in any meaningful sense, must be shared; it must be available to those, and only those, who need it and it must possess a high degree of integrity - the only thing worse than loosing information is not knowing whether the information available is corrupt or not. Page number: 27 Word count: 825 Related Topics: Business process re-engineering Manufacturing resource planning
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