From Pasadena and Deer Park to La Porte and Baytown, the industrial businesses along the Houston Ship Channel keep the region’s plants and refineries running: fabricators, machine shops, inspection and testing labs, industrial service contractors and specialty manufacturers. Their IT looks nothing like a typical office. There’s an office network and a shop or plant network, a computer running an instrument that can’t be upgraded, a handful of servers that have to be up for production to run, and equipment vendors who need to connect in from outside.
Aspendora Technologies has supported Houston-area businesses from our La Porte office, in the middle of the petrochemical corridor, since 2010. We run and protect the IT side of industrial operations so production, testing and reporting keep moving.
When the ERP, the scheduling system or the server that stores test results is down, work stops on the floor, not just in the office. That shapes how we work: planned maintenance is scheduled around your shifts and turnarounds, critical servers are monitored around the clock, and recovery is planned before it’s needed.
In many shops, the machine or instrument computers sit on the same flat network as email and web browsing. That means one phishing click in the front office can reach the equipment that runs production. Separating those networks is one of the most effective protections an industrial company can put in place. See where OT meets IT for Baytown-area industrial firms.
Test instruments, CNC and inspection equipment are often tied to an old version of Windows because the manufacturer only supports that configuration. Replacing them may not be realistic. What you can do is contain them: limit what they can talk to, keep them off the internet, control who can reach them, and keep a recoverable copy of how they’re configured.
Equipment manufacturers and software vendors often need remote access for support. Too often that means a permanent remote-control tool or a shared account nobody reviews. Vendor access should be specific, time-limited and revocable.
Operators and larger manufacturers increasingly send security questionnaires to their suppliers and contractors, and defense suppliers face CMMC. Read how Houston energy vendors can pass a cyber vendor audit and what CMMC means for the defense supply chain.
We design and manage your network so office systems, plant or lab equipment, guest Wi-Fi and other devices sit on separate network segments, with firewall rules that allow only the traffic that’s needed between them. The managed business firewall adds intrusion detection and prevention at the edge.
For legacy equipment computers, we restrict network access to only what the equipment needs, block internet access where possible, and back them up so they can be restored if the hardware fails. We work with your equipment vendors and controls integrators rather than making changes to production equipment on our own.
Zero-trust remote access replaces the VPN and the always-on vendor connection. Each employee or vendor is granted only the specific system they need, nothing on your network is exposed to the internet, and access can be granted for a job and revoked when it’s done.
Industrial companies tend to accumulate servers: ERP, file storage, test data, historians, engineering applications and virtual machines. Each is backed up to immutable offsite storage that ransomware can’t encrypt or delete, with restores tested so you know what recovery really takes. Microsoft 365 email and files are backed up separately. See data backup and recovery and Microsoft 365 backup.
Endpoint detection and response on office computers and servers, monitored 24/7 by a security operations center; patching of Windows and third-party software on a schedule that fits production; multi-factor authentication and account-takeover monitoring on Microsoft 365; and no everyday administrator rights. Email filtering and training target the business email compromise that hits manufacturers’ purchasing and accounts-receivable teams. Read why Pearland manufacturers are getting hit by business email compromise.
Security logs are collected, retained and analyzed centrally, and every control is documented, so you can answer a customer’s security questionnaire or an insurer’s application with evidence. See our compliance services.
Many industrial companies have an IT or controls person who knows the plant inside out. Our co-managed IT adds security tools, 24/7 monitoring, backup and extra hands without replacing them. Read what co-managed IT looks like for Houston manufacturers, or see our fully managed IT services and cybersecurity services.
Office PCs, shop-floor equipment and guest Wi-Fi all share a network, so one infected laptop can reach production.
An instrument or machine is tied to an unsupported version of Windows and nobody is sure it could be restored.
Remote-access tools installed years ago by vendors are still running, and nobody reviews who uses them.
Tell us about your facility, your servers and equipment, and who needs access from outside.
We map your network and systems and give you a prioritized plan, starting with what would stop production.
We run, protect and monitor your IT so your team can focus on the work.
No. We are an IT and cybersecurity provider. We manage the networks, servers, computers, accounts and backups around your operations, including separating and protecting the network your equipment sits on, and we coordinate with your controls integrator or equipment vendors for anything on the control-system side.
Most attacks start in the office, through phishing email or a stolen password. On a flat network, malware that starts on an office laptop can reach equipment and servers that production depends on. Separate network segments with firewall rules between them limit how far an attack can spread and make it easier to see unusual traffic.
If the equipment manufacturer only supports an old operating system, the goal is containment: put the computer on a restricted network segment, block internet access, limit who and what can connect to it, and keep a backup so it can be restored if the hardware fails. Plan its replacement with the vendor when it makes sense.
Through access that is specific to the system they support, requires their own login, and can be turned on for a job and off afterward. Zero-trust remote access does this without opening anything on your network to the internet and replaces shared accounts and always-on remote-control tools.
Each server or virtual machine is backed up on a schedule to immutable offsite storage that can’t be changed or deleted during its retention period, even by an administrator. We monitor every backup job and test restores so recovery times are known, not guessed.
Yes. Because the controls we manage are documented, we can help you answer questions about MFA, endpoint protection, backups, patching, training and remote access accurately, and help close gaps before you sign. If you are a defense supplier, we can also help you understand where you stand on CMMC.
Absolutely. In many industrial companies, the most important knowledge sits with one internal person. Co-managed IT gives them security tools, 24/7 monitoring, backup and backup staff, while they stay in charge of what they know best.
Book a free discovery call. We’ll learn how your facility runs, look at your network, servers and remote access, and give you a clear, prioritized plan. Prefer to talk now? Call 281-941-4028.
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