Manufacturing
Modern manufacturing runs on connected systems — from ERP and supply chain platforms to industrial control systems on the factory floor. This convergence of IT and operational technology creates new efficiencies and new vulnerabilities. OAS delivers managed security, Citrix remote access, and resilient backup solutions that protect your production environment, your intellectual property, and your supply chain continuity.
Why Manufacturing Is a Growing Target
Manufacturing has become one of the most targeted sectors for cyberattacks globally. Ransomware operators target manufacturers because production downtime creates immediate financial pressure to pay. A factory that stops producing loses revenue by the hour — and attackers know it.
South African manufacturers face additional challenges. Supply chain complexity means a breach at one facility can cascade across operations. Intellectual property — product designs, formulations, and process specifications — carries significant competitive value. Legacy operational technology (OT) systems were designed for reliability, not security, and often run unsupported operating systems.
The convergence of IT and OT networks — driven by Industry 4.0 initiatives, IoT sensors, and data-driven production management — has expanded the attack surface dramatically. A compromised email account in the corporate office can become a pathway to production control systems if proper segmentation is not in place.
How OAS Secures Manufacturing Operations
OAS provides enterprise IT security designed for the realities of manufacturing — where uptime is non-negotiable, environments span office and factory floor, and legacy systems must coexist with modern infrastructure.
Citrix Remote Access for Manufacturing
Citrix virtual desktops and applications deliver your ERP (SAP, Sage, SYSPRO), manufacturing execution systems (MES), supply chain management, and quality systems to authorised users at any location. Engineers access production data from the plant floor, the corporate office, or remotely. Sensitive intellectual property and production data remain centralised — never on endpoint devices.
OAS's Citrix Platinum partnership and 40+ years of deployment experience ensure your virtual workspace delivers reliable performance, even at sites with constrained bandwidth. HDX protocol optimisation maintains a responsive experience for data-heavy manufacturing applications.
Endpoint Protection Across Office and Plant
SentinelOne autonomous EDR protects every endpoint in your operation — corporate workstations, engineering stations, quality control terminals, and plant-floor computers. AI-driven behavioural detection identifies ransomware, malware, and zero-day threats without relying on signature updates. Offline protection ensures devices at production sites remain secured even without constant network connectivity.
Ransomware rollback capability restores affected files automatically — keeping production data intact and reducing recovery time.
IT/OT Network Segmentation
Citrix NetScaler and Nutanix Flow microsegmentation enforce strict separation between your corporate IT network and operational technology environments. This boundary is critical. An attack that enters through a phishing email in the accounts department must never reach the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that run your production lines.
NetScaler Web Application Firewall protects internet-facing systems. Zero Trust network access ensures that only authorised users, on authorised devices, can access specific resources — based on identity and policy, not network location.
Multi-Site Monitoring and Management
N-able RMM provides 24/7 centralised visibility across your entire IT estate — head office, manufacturing plants, warehouses, and distribution centres. Automated alerting identifies issues before they affect production. Patch management addresses vulnerabilities across distributed infrastructure — critical for the Windows systems and third-party applications that manufacturing depends on.
Resilient Backup and Recovery
Cove Data Protection delivers encrypted, immutable cloud backups for production servers, corporate systems, and Microsoft 365 environments. ERP data, production records, quality documentation, and design files are all protected against ransomware and system failure. All backup data remains within South African borders. Recovery testing ensures your recovery time objectives are achievable — not theoretical.
SIEM and Operational Intelligence
Splunk centralised log aggregation correlates security events across your IT estate. Compliance reporting supports King IV governance requirements, POPIA obligations, and customer audit standards. Incident investigation capabilities provide forensic evidence when a security event occurs — critical for understanding the scope and impact of a breach.
Compliance and Supply Chain Assurance
Manufacturing supply chains increasingly demand cybersecurity assurance from their participants. OEM customers, automotive supply chain partners, and international buyers require documented security controls as a condition of doing business.
OAS provides compliance documentation that addresses:
- POPIA — protection of employee, supplier, and customer personal information
- King IV — board-level IT governance and risk management
- Customer security requirements — audit-ready evidence for supply chain due diligence
- ISO 27001 alignment — OAS security controls mapped to international standards
Why Manufacturers Choose OAS
- 40+ years of enterprise IT experience across Southern Africa
- IT/OT segmentation expertise — protecting the boundary between corporate and production systems
- Citrix Platinum Partner — reliable remote access for manufacturing applications
- Offline endpoint protection — SentinelOne operates at sites without constant connectivity
- Multi-site management — centralised visibility across plants, offices, and warehouses
- 24/7 managed service — production runs around the clock, and so does OAS
- Supply chain assurance — compliance documentation for customer audits
- Data sovereignty — all data remains within South African borders
Production Downtime Is Not an Option
A ransomware attack that halts your production line costs more with every passing hour. OAS's free security assessment evaluates your current defences — across corporate IT and the IT/OT boundary — and provides a practical roadmap to resilient, enterprise-grade protection for your manufacturing operation.