Topic starter
25/06/2026 2:55 pm
TL;DR: Manufacturers adopting IIoT, automation, and AI are expanding their attack surface through shared workstations, mobile devices, and contractor access, while ransomware, third-party breaches, and supply chain disruption remain top risks, according to Imprivata. Identity and access controls now determine whether digital transformation improves resilience or amplifies operational exposure.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Imprivata: “World Manufacturing Day Underscores the Critical Need for Secure Access Management”.
Key questions
Q: How should organisations secure shared workstations without slowing production down?
A: Use fast authentication flows that preserve user attribution, such as badge-based sign-in, SSO and controlled session handoff.
Q: Why does contractor access create outsized risk in manufacturing environments?
A: Contractor access often persists beyond the job that required it, which creates standing privilege across production and supplier-connected systems.
Q: What are the signs that identity controls are failing in a hybrid manufacturing environment?
A: Warning signs include fragmented visibility across on-prem and cloud systems, delayed detection of suspicious authentication, and limited ability to trigger step-up checks when behavior changes.
Practitioner guidance
- Enforce passwordless authentication on shared workstations Replace shared passwords where possible and require step-up verification for privileged or production-sensitive tasks on floor devices.
- Separate contractor access from employee access paths Issue contractor identities with time-bounded scopes, separate approval paths, and explicit offboarding triggers tied to the work order or engagement.
- Record and review privileged sessions in production zones Capture session activity for high-risk access to manufacturing systems so investigations can reconstruct what happened during disruption or misuse.
Bottom line: Manufacturing identity security is no longer a supporting issue because access decisions now affect uptime, safety, and continuity directly.
Explore further
View Full Forum → | NHI Foundation Course → | Our Services → | Read the full analysis →
25/06/2026 4:09 pm
Manufacturing identity is now an operational control plane, not a back-office function: In connected plants, access decisions shape uptime, safety, and continuity as directly as network segmentation does. When shared workstations, mobile devices, and contractor accounts become routine, identity controls determine whether production keeps moving or fails closed under pressure. The practitioner conclusion is that manufacturing programmes should be measured by access containment, not only by login success rates.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 92% of organisations expose NHIs to third parties, raising concerns about supply chain security, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should identity teams do when manufacturing access becomes a resilience issue?
A: Treat access monitoring, offboarding, and session recording as part of operational resilience, not just IAM administration. That means coordinating identity policy with plant operations, vendor management, and incident response so that access events can be traced quickly when production is disrupted.
👉 Read our full editorial: Manufacturing identity security is becoming the new control point