Have you started the cybersecurity conversation?

Manufacturers, retailers and third-party logistics organizations are investing massive amounts of effort and money—in a very short period of time—to ratchet up systems automation, install collaboration software and deploy mobile technology across the enterprise that can keep up with the pace of our new world.

Indeed, the futuristic concept of the Internet of Things (IoT)—networks of sensors, smart machines, RFID and software connected in the cloud—is becoming a reality across global supply chain operations. Terms like “visibility,” “interoperability,” “mobility,” and “connectivity” are all part of our current industry vernacular as we race toward this seamless network that will ideally help supply chains respond to data and make it more usable.

“The great promise of the IoT is that information technology systems will have a real-time understanding of conditions, events and material movements in the physical world,” writes our Roberto Michel. “And, while there’s still a fuzzy understanding of how the IoT translates into practical use, the pieces of the technology are falling into place.”

Steve Banker, who heads up the supply chain and logistics consulting team at ARC Advisory Group, couldn’t agree more. In fact, he refers to it as the “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT) to differentiate it from consumer applications. “The key to understanding what’s happening is to not let the futuristic context of IoT—or any of the buzz terms—intimidate you. The acronym is new, but the concept is not, particularly in distribution center and logistics management.”

For example, an RF gun, voice recognition, scanning, tracking and tracing on and off a truck, GPS, mobile phones, temperature monitoring, and other sensors embedded throughout a DC and as part of the freight are certainly not new—but all provide IoT-style sensor data. “And the good news is that prices on sensors, networking and other key parts of this technology stack are falling quickly…and we’re making progress without many realizing it,” says Banker.

The possibilities are endless, and when you think that Gartner projects that by 2020 there will be 26 billion “things” connected within the IoT, the supply chain visibility opportunities boggle the mind—in fact it’s downright Utopian.

However, this month Modern’s associate editor Josh Bond issues some strong words of caution, our first deep look into cybersecurity and its growing importance in distribution and logistics operations.

“Think that between every connected device lies a potential cybersecurity risk,” says Bond. “And when you fully consider the consequences of even a single security breech in just one of these links, users will quickly realize that security measures can no longer be an afterthought.”

Bond has amassed a terrific group of cybersecurity professionals to open the minds of Modern readers and bring these concerns to the table. “Many are even revisiting the pre-Internet network security concept of AAA, which calls for authentication, authorization and accounting at each access point,” says Bond. “However, there’s no silver bullet solution. The only call to action at this point is to start the conversation as soon as possible.”