IEN: Have strides been made in: Risk management? Integrated systems design? Emergency response? Hazard controls? Computer security? Crisis management? Please explain.
Thomas: Across the manufacturing industry, strides are being made in all of these areas -- and frequently, progress is being driven by federal mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley for publicly held companies and HIPAA for pharmaceutical firms and other manufacturers touching on issues of patient/data privacy. Additionally, in today''s competitive world, intellectual property is often a manufacturer''s greatest asset -- and tighter security is required to safeguard it.
Specifically at Molded Fiber Glass, the company faced three main issues:
- insufficient security available in its current ERP system based on current industry standards
- inability to create secure individual logons and audit trails
- repeated issues with annual accounting audits due to these security weaknesses.
Integrating biometric access controls provided improvements in risk management and general computer and network security. In addition to secure access to its ERP, MFG is also using the solution for access to their network and desktops. This single solution provided drastic improvement in computer security and had a positive impact on risk management initiatives as a result of the audit.
IEN: What innovations can be expected in security equipment and systems, software, training, and elsewhere?
Thomas: All aspects of security, ranging from equipment to training, are rapidly advancing to take advantage of new innovations in technology. One of today''s trends being widely adopted is the concept of integrating physical and logical security into a single system. Not only does this streamline maintenance, training, and costs for the manufacturer, it makes it easier for users to embrace and adopt. For example, manufacturers lose millions of dollars annually in fraudulent time and attendance recordkeeping. Employee piggybacking is a common problem that, until recently, was difficult to solve. However, SAFLINK products can now virtually eliminate an employee''s ability to share or exchange passwords -- thereby reducing labor costs.
MFG is planning to expand use of its biometric deployment in many new areas including :
- Single Sign On to all enterprise applications
- Time and Attendance
- Access to intranet
- Web training and compliance
- Secure Data access via portable biometric USB flashdrives.
IEN: How significant a role will the web play in security? Wireless? Why?
Thomas: MFG is not currently using extensive web applications except on its intranet. It is considering providing secure access in a future project with biometric integration.
IEN: Are companies integrating security technologies with industrial operations? How?
Thomas: For many manufacturing companies such as MFG, the ERP system drives industrial operations. The ERP system is responsible for inventory, scheduling, ordering of raw materials, etc. MFG gave the security of its ERP system the highest priority because the data within the system is extremely confidential.