According to “2021 Cybersecurity: Assess Your Risk,” a new report from PMMI Business Intelligence, the first and most important step a manufacturer can take to improve their cybersecurity preparedness is to gain a thorough understanding of their operation’s vulnerabilities, and how those vulnerabilities can be exploited. Modern manufacturing’s expanding scope of integrated technology is a ripe target for cybercriminals, as is the widespread adoption of cloud and edge computing. Integrated Technology Integrated production lines using smart sensors and actuators to collect data digitally has driven more flexible production and increased the rapid adoption of new technologies over the past decade. The desire for increased data collection continues to gain momentum and has spread across processing and packaging operations, with most companies moving toward an IIoT model of manufacturing.