IIoT has been heralded as the harbinger of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (a digital revolution characterized by the fusion of technologies, blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres), with the potential to impact industries at a scale equal to prior advancements in steam, electrical, nuclear, and computing power.
The growth in adoption of IIoT has also emboldened malicious actors to deploy stealthy sophisticated mechanisms to exploit vulnerabilities unique to IIoT systems, or derived from vulnerable components, devices, or systems that are used as part of IIoT services. The sheer scale and inextricable interconnectedness of IIoT further compound the safety and security risks into actual physical threats, exposing the potential for catastrophic harm.