The recent hacks of Colonial Pipeline and JBS meat packing shut down production after ransomware attackers encrypted all the files on the company's computers so that they could not be read or written. I think that the pipeline should have been able to keep pumping and the meat continue to be cut and packed even though workers could not access computer files.
Company suits need to understand that computer security needs to be taken seriously and needs some money spent on it. Both Colonial and JBS have lost barrels of money by shutting down. I say the basic operations of any company should be able to keep running while the company computers are knocked off line. Management should investigate and see why this cannot be. I will bet that a lot of the stuff done by computer could be done by hand or with pencil and paper and training the crew to do so is not all that hard to do.
In the case where computers are essential to some process (CAD/CAM for instance) they need to designate the computer as "critical" which means take extra care to keep it backed up, keep it off the public internet and keep it in a locked room. Have IT hand deliver Micro$oft patches on a DVD rather than allow the computer to download them over the internet.
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