secure DNC

Tag Archive: secure DNC

When Machines Can’t Meet the Network Rules

The “significant security vulnerabilities” of SMBv1 that Microsoft warns of, which have exposed companies to crippling ransomware attacks like the infamous NotPetya, are often the same legacy protocol that can still be found on some CNC controllers today.

“The original SMB1 protocol is nearly 30 years old, and like much of the software made in the 80’s, it was designed for a world that no longer exists. A world without malicious actors, without vast sets of important data, without near-universal computer usage.” — Ned Pyle

But there’s not necessarily a simple fix for manufacturers. Remove SMBv1, acknowledges the software giant, and you can break compatibility with older equipment and software. You could try to isolate vulnerable systems or use port blocking and other compensating controls to reduce exposure. Or you can continue to run SMBv1, exposing your shop, and potentially your value chain, to cyberattacks, debilitating downtime, exorbitant costs and the loss of customer trust.

The challenge with machinery running SMBv1 is to preserve the communication it needs for production while creating a controlled connection that limits unnecessary network access and exposure.

Each approach addresses part of the problem, but none necessarily addresses the fundamental production challenge: How do you keep productive legacy equipment connected without leaving the door open to the network threats it was never designed to withstand?

For manufacturers, the answer may not be replacing the machine, patching around the problem, adding layers of microsegmentation and isolation or simply accepting the risk. It may be finding a more controlled way to connect it.

 A Familiar Standoff

That’s the tension manufacturers live with every day, even without a headline-making cyberattack to force the issue.

On one side, IT and cybersecurity teams are accountable for reducing exposure. They see an outdated protocol as a potential entry point, particularly when a machine sits on a network that also touches business systems, suppliers or other production assets.

IT teams need visibility into what your aging equipment communicates, with which systems, over which protocols and ports and in which direction, including the files, applications or services required for production.

On the other hand, operations sees a machine that needs to run. That CNC may be producing parts that customers are waiting for, tied to a validated process or simply too costly and disruptive to replace. Engineering knows the controller’s limitations, the tooling is dialed in and the process works.

Neither side is wrong.

That’s where the discussion needs to move beyond “turn it off” or “leave it alone,” to whether manufacturers can separate the equipment’s production requirements from the network exposure that comes with its legacy technology.

The Architecture to Accommodate Both

Production and IT teams should have a shared understanding of what the aging machine actually needs to communicate in order to find a way to give it that connection without opening the rest of the network to unnecessary exposure.

NIST’s OT security guidance takes a similar approach. Its recommendations recognize that manufacturing systems have different performance, reliability and safety requirements than traditional IT environments, while calling for network segmentation and controlled boundaries between systems to limit access and manage data flows.

That means teams should start with the equipment rather than the protocol by taking these steps to help plan out the process:

1. What actually depends on SMBv1? Identify the machine(s), controller(s) or application(s) and understand why it/they need the legacy protocol.
2. What needs to move and where? Map the CNC programs or other production data, their source and destination and the path they currently take across the network.
3. What can be separated? Use segmentation, firewalls, access controls or other compensating controls to restrict the legacy equipment’s exposure without disrupting the production process.
4. Can the connection itself be changed? Rather than relying on Windows shares or SMB to move CNC programs, a purpose-built DNC connection can provide a controlled path for transferring production files to and from equipment. Predator Secure DNC, for example, is designed to transfer files to CNC equipment through firewalls while eliminating dependencies on corporate domains, workgroups and Windows file shares.
5. What is the long-term plan? Document the exception, the controls around it and the conditions that would eventually trigger an equipment or controller upgrade.

Production needs a clear understanding of what data the machine needs to send and receive, with which systems and for what production purpose, in order to assist IT in designing connectivity around those essential requirements while limiting unnecessary network exposure.

A Different Way to Connect

In the quest to minimize security vulnerabilities, the goal isn’t necessarily to make a legacy machine conform to a network architecture it was never designed for. The goal is to understand what the machine needs to do its job and then design the connection around those requirements.

That could mean segmentation at the network level, tightly-controlled firewall rules, isolation of particularly vulnerable equipment and other compensating controls. In some environments, it may also mean replacing a legacy Windows file-sharing dependency with a purpose-built DNC connection.

A solution like Predator Secure DNC can be part of that approach, providing a controlled path for CNC program transfers without relying on corporate domains, workgroups or Windows shares. But software alone doesn’t solve the problem. The right architecture depends on the machines, controllers, network environment and production requirements already in place.

Shop Floor Automations, as a manufacturing integrator, brings together the equipment, connectivity hardware, software and implementation expertise needed to work through that gap. SFA assesses the existing machine and network environment, identifies the communication requirements, helps design the connectivity architecture, deploys the appropriate hardware and software and validates the result with the teams responsible for IT, engineering and production.

The result can mean fewer exceptions to manage and a known production process that keeps reliable machines running. It also creates something more valuable than a workaround: a practical path toward a more secure shop floor without treating every aging machine as a replacement project or major IT burden.

If you’re looking to connect aging and/or vulnerable equipment without creating a new IT problem, talk with an SFA manufacturing integration expert today.

Tag Archive: secure DNC

Isolate Your CNC Network, Not Your Production

There was an imaginary moat that once existed between IT and the shop floor. It used to feel like protection, safely guarding teams around their specializations – whether pumping out parts or ticket resolutions.

Today, it feels like exposure. Cybersecurity experts note that traditional “air-gapped” assumptions are breaking down as Industry 4.0 connects once-isolated machines to networks, USB drives and remote access pathways. Especially for manufacturers handling defense, aerospace or medical device parts, that shift has turned everyday habits into compliance and cybersecurity liabilities.

The ability of threat actors to penetrate networks, says global cybersecurity leader ESET, has become easier with the use of network protocols built on top of publicly documented internet protocols, human/machine interfaces and other computing devices that run familiar OS and adoption of IIoT devices.

When Audits Get Real

Picture a plant that looks like the many you know: rows of CNCs, a busy programming office and a shop floor where hitting the schedule is non‑negotiable. The company has grown into defense work, signed DFARS clauses and hears CMMC 2.0 mentioned in every customer review meeting. But in the rush of production, file movement still runs on muscle memory.

Then comes the CMMC audit.

An assessor makes a simple request: “Walk me through how this CNC program traveled from the engineer’s workstation to this machine.”  The real response may be a shared folder with broad permissions, or a thumb drive passed between machines. Maybe an e-mail attachment when someone was in a rush.

What once felt effective now looks like uncontrolled data movement.

Standards like NIST 800-171 and CMMC 2.0 place clear emphasis on media protection, access control and traceability, especially when handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). In the audit room, “we’ve always done it this way” becomes a risk statement.

Balancing “Lock It Down” with “Keep It Running”

Leadership often issues a mandate: tighten security, eliminate unmanaged USBs and reduce lateral movement across networks.

But operations departments live by different metrics: spindle uptime, on-time delivery and scrap rates. If security controls create too much friction at the machine, shadow workflows return.

This is the core tension in Operational Technology (OT) security. Lock down VLANs and disable ports – but leave operators dependent on untracked USB transfers to legacy CNCs – and you create the worst of both worlds: IT complexity and invisible audit exposure.

The question isn’t whether to isolate. It’s how to isolate without isolating production.

Build A More Practical Bridge

That’s where structured DNC, an industrial networking software solution that transfers your CNC program and production data for all of your equipment, and controlled program delivery come in.

Manufacturing integrators like Shop Floor Automations help manufacturers replace ad-hoc USB transfers with secure, centralized file distribution built for OT environments. Instead of programs walking across the floor on thumb drives:

• Files move through a single, secure DNC network engineered for industrial systems
• Revision control ensures only the released version reaches the machine
• Machine-level traceability logs who sent what file, from where and when
• Role-based access controls restrict who can upload, modify or release CNC programs

Now the audit question: “How did this program get here?” The answer becomes a report, not a debate.

This approach aligns security requirements with production reality. Operators no longer chase files. Engineers don’t wonder which version is running. IT gains compliance without blocking the floor.

Manufacturers in regulated supply chains understand that CNC network isolation is critical to achieving CMMC 2.0 and related frameworks. But isolation doesn’t have to mean that production is secluded from the rest of the business when proper controls are instituted.

Making Isolation Work in Practice

Shops that successfully (and securely) separate networks and machines share three traits:

1. Aligned ownership. Corporate policy and IT define guardrails; manufacturing engineers define workflow. Security becomes enforceable without becoming unworkable. All stakeholders should be vested in the project for long-term adoption and compliance.
2. Legacy-aware solutions. Most facilities run mixed equipment. Older machines weren’t designed for today’s segmentation or encryption standards. Purpose-built OT tools, including integrated CNC hardware, secure DNC software and production data management (PDM) software, meet modern standards without forcing cost-prohibitive equipment replacement.
3. Clear documentation and training. Technical controls only work well when paired with easy-to-follow work instructions, role-based permissions and expert guidance that’s available via phone or onsite consultation.

When these attributes come together, manufacturers not only become audit-ready but operationally confident. Operators trust that the file at the machine is current and approved. Plant management sees improvements to productivity, efficiency and turnover on the floor. Leadership trusts that compliance risk is controlled.

From Liability to CMMC 2.0 Compliant-File Transfers

Manufacturers in regulated supply chains understand that network isolation is critical to achieving CMMC 2.0 and related frameworks. But isolation doesn’t have to mean that production is secluded from the rest of the business.

When implemented thoughtfully, that is, with secure DNC networking, centralized revision control and full traceability, cybersecurity becomes an operational advantage that evolves past compliance to greater accuracy, less carryover workflows and better productivity.

If your answer to “How did this program reach that machine?” still involves shared drives and anonymous USBs, take on your digital moat with the technical experts at Shop Floor Automations to set up CMMC 2.0 compliant-CNC file transfers to safeguard your production runs, and your manufacturing business.