ALEXANDRIA, VA (September 10, 2021) – Mission Critical Global Alliance (MCGA) and the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) are partnering in effort to educate Illinois manufacturers on industry best practices to address emerging cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
The partnership brings a wealth of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) cybersecurity expertise to IMEC manufacturing clients that are key to mitigating cybersecurity risks. IMEC can now offer this expertise in the form of training, certifications, and best practices regarding mission critical system concepts, standards, technology, operations, safety and physical security, risk management, and emergency response preparedness to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
The first of many opportunities involving the MCGA/IMEC partnership sharing its breadth of cybersecurity expertise is a webinar scheduled for October 4th titled, “DEMYSTIFY CYBER INSURANCE: How Controls Can Save Manufacturers Money and Increase Protection.”
“Cybersecurity is a key area requiring action by manufacturers because of the frequency and sophistication of recent attacks. This is a significant national security issue, and individual manufacturers need to take steps to protect their people and products. Partnering with MCGA will allow IMEC to bring this sense of urgency to manufacturing leaders – and provide training to improve their systems of protection.” said David Boulay, IMEC president.
It is impossible to prevent all cybersecurity breaches but with the partnership between IMEC and MCGA manufacturers will be able to take immediate action to better understand their cyber risk and implement mitigation plans. By reviewing response preparedness from a people, process, and technology perspective, the chances of a breach and/or the consequences of an incident will be reduced:
People: Train everyone to anticipate a cybersecurity incident and know how to respond
Process: Run regular exercises to ensure that the incident response plan will work when required
Technology: Implement secure architectures, focusing especially on the segregation of systems so that it is possible to isolate parts of an environment without impacting others
“We are extremely pleased to have formed this partnership with IMEC,” said Bryan Kainrath, MCGA president. “With our newly formed relationship we will be able to work directly with IMEC clients and educate them on immediate actions that they can take to make significant reductions in their cybersecurity risk.”
“We know that hackers are really good at what they do – hacking systems. Manufacturers are really good at what they do – making widgets. Hackers see tremendous value in weak targets and know manufacturers, particularly small manufacturers, are vulnerable and are potential data access points into larger manufacturers.” Boulay said, “A partnership with MCGA will provide manufacturers with the armor and tools to defend against hackers.”
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Media Contacts
MCGA - Kevin Edwards, (703) 653-0596, media@mcgalliance.org
IMEC - Kristy Johns, (309) 224-0117, kjohns@imec.org
About MCGA
Business leaders, government, and industry turn to Mission Critical Global Alliance (MCGA) as a trusted resource in safeguarding operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) elements of mission critical infrastructure due to our expertise in advocacy, skills standards development, education, research, workforce development, and professional certifications. MCGA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
About IMEC
Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) is a team of improvement specialists and technicians dedicated to providing organizations in Illinois with the tools and techniques to create sustainable competitive futures. The experienced hands-on team at IMEC works closely with its clients to plan critical business improvements in the areas of Leadership, Strategy, Customer Engagement, Operations, and Workforce.
