JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2026ELECTRICAL BUSINESS REVIEW8IN MY OPINIONBy Matthias Springer, Senior Vice President Functional Safety & Security, TÜV NORDThe coronavirus pandemic will have a lasting impact on the global business and industry. Despite the broadly discussed negative developments, companies have made quantum leaps with regard to digitalisation in a very short time. What used to be a rather sketchy plan has turned into concrete measures. With enormous speed, industrial companies have been able to implement digitalisation and automation projects. Remote accessibility of plants and systems, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance are elementary in times of shutdown and home office in order to maintain operations. What we are currently experiencing is akin to a paradigm shift. Unfortunately, with the naturally understandable euphoria about digital transformation in record time, security aspects often fade into the background. Unprotected networked systems pose an immense risk­a fact that is often acknowledged too late.Industrial Plants ss Targets of Cyber AttacksPetya, WannaCry, TRITON­they all have become known to the public as malware which has produced considerable damage in recent years. The terms are now synonymous with cyber-attacks, which have raised awareness of how vulnerable digital industrial plants are today. Petya and WannaCry were Trojans and used for rather widespread attacks that targeted more or less every Windows-based computer. Not only global companies were affected in Europe but also hospitals, ministries, and infrastructure. With these cyber-attacks came numerous ransom demands. The publicly known incident TRITON was directed against an industrial safety control in the Middle East. This incident triggered the secure state­but it is suspected that the attackers were actually trying to disable the safety control. Only by chance or a bug in the malware did the catastrophe­the explosion of a petrochemical plant­not occur. It is likely that more attacks will follow in the future. Securing the Future for Industrial CompaniesIn view of such threat scenarios, new approaches to risk analysis and the technical inspection of installations and products must be taken. Functional safety and IT security should therefore no longer be treated as separate fields of action. Security means the security of data in terms of availability, confidentiality, and integrity. Safety refers to the safety of people and the environment, for example in terms of functionality, electrical, and constructional safety. The merger of safety and security into one approach came with the development of smart manufacturing. For years now, networking of sensors and actuators has been indispensable in the process and manufacturing industry. Cloud infrastructures are implemented to develop new business models. Very common today are digital twins of industrial plants­the simulation of the plant in the cloud, which in turn opens up completely new applications and potential. These trends are INDUSTRIAL SECURITY: PROTECTION OF NEW DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURES Matthias Springer
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