Patching ovens: managing vulnerabilities on legacy bakery lines

Many bakery lines run on control systems that are ten or twenty years old. Patches may not exist, and where they do, applying them can mean stopping a line that earns money every hour it runs.

That does not mean nothing can be done. The goal is to reduce the chance that an old system is ever reached by an attacker.

Practical steps for legacy lines

• Keep an up-to-date list of every controller and its software version
• Place legacy systems behind a firewall that only allows what the line needs
• Disable unused ports and remote services
• Agree patch windows with production planners a quarter ahead

The chapter's February walkthrough will show these steps on a working line.