Cyber security in production networks — An empirical study about the current status

Classical Information Technology (IT) systems and Operational Technology (OT) are quickly converging technically. Furthermore, the upcoming digitalization, the corresponding information transparancy and the increased number of networked systems poses new challenges on the security of industrial production systems. In order to perform an analysis of the current security situation of manufacturing companies in Germany, an empirical survey has been conducted with companies of different sizes ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises to large enterprises of the DAX-30. The companies are mainly from the area of discrete manufacturing. The survey has been performed either by individual interviews or by an online questionnaire. The main analysis results as well as other findings and conclusions are presented in this work.