Updated: May 13, 2025
Not Just IT. OT Needs Protection Too.
You’ve upgraded your machines. Your production is faster than ever. But your network may still be trusting by default. Manufacturing plants in Pune, Ahmedabad, and Chennai are now prime targets for attackers, not just to steal data, but to halt production.
Industrial control systems, PLCs, and IoT devices were never built with security in mind. And yet, they’re all plugged into your network.
So the BIG QUESTION is: Who’s Watching the Floor?
Where the Threats Come From
Most attacks on factories start with something small. A third-party technician logs in from an infected laptop. A camera port is left open. A VPN credential is reused. And suddenly, your SCADA system is exposed.
The cost of industrial cyberattacks isn’t just data loss, it’s production stoppage. According to Dragos' 2024 report, ransomware attacks on the industrial sector surged by 87%, with manufacturing being the most affected, accounting for over 50% of these incidents.
Your Firewall Isn’t Enough
Most manufacturers in India still rely on perimeter security, one firewall at the edge, guarding everything. But once an attacker gets in, everything is flat. OT networks don’t have the segmentation, visibility, or controls that modern IT networks do.
That’s where Cisco solutions help:
This stack lets you reduce the blast radius, even if something goes wrong.
What Secure Access Looks Like on the Floor
Think about your actual floor operations.
With Zero Trust for OT, you don’t assume anything is safe. You inspect, verify, and limit access for every user and device.
This is not theory. It’s how we’ve helped factories in Noida and Bhiwadi run uninterrupted during breach attempts.
Visibility: The First Step to Control
You can’t secure what you can’t see. Most factory networks have unmanaged switches, undocumented devices, and OT gear that’s been in place for 10+ years. Cisco Cyber Vision helps you build a real-time asset inventory — what’s online, what it’s talking to, and what’s unusual.
Proactive Data Systems integrates this with Cisco SecureX and ISE to map policies to floor layouts. So you’re not reacting to alerts, you’re preventing them.
Downtime Costs More Than You Think
A one-hour halt in production can cost lakhs in material loss, rework, and penalties. Yet many factories wait for an incident before investing in segmentation or access controls.
We’ve seen the difference in plants that prepare. According to Frost & Sullivan, manufacturing plants with segmented OT networks recover 40% faster from breach-related shutdowns.
Proactive has worked with manufacturers from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu and beyond to implement Zero Trust in stages, without touching production schedules. We map Cisco’s architecture to your process flows. No guessing. No templates. Just real coverage.
How to Start — Without Overhauling Everything
You don’t need to rip out what you’ve built.
Start by identifying:
Then secure access. Add monitoring. Segment traffic. Build policies into the switches.
Proactive helps you do this incrementally — across vendors, across plants, without noise.
Don’t Wait for the Alarm to Ring
A modern factory runs on data. But it only works when the network behind it stays safe.
If you’re still relying on firewall rules and best effort, it’s time to rethink the floor.
Talk to Proactive today. We’re a Cisco Gold Partner trusted by India’s top manufacturers to secure networks without stopping production.
Ankita Tyagi Marketing Executive
