Bridging cybersecurity and industrial risk

The mining industry is undergoing a profound digital transformation. From real-time analytics at remote operations to autonomous vehicles and cloud-based enterprise systems, connectivity has become essential. But with increased digitalisation comes expanded cyber risk – and traditional safety frameworks often fall short of addressing this threat.

My background in industrial risk management, forged during my years at Areva (now Orano) managing uranium mining operations in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Canada, and France, taught me the importance of integrating technical resilience with operational safety. At the time, crisis management meant preparing for environmental hazards, physical safety incidents, or geopolitical instability. Today, cyber threats must be viewed with the same urgency – as they can disable production, expose sensitive data, or even pose physical safety risks through compromised control systems.

Too often, mining companies treat cyber and operational risks in isolation. IT is managed by one team, site safety by another. But a ransomware attack does not respect these silos. Nor do state-sponsored attackers probing remote assets with limited perimeter defences.

This is where a holistic approach is needed – blending industrial safety principles with modern cybersecurity frameworks. We must consider not just firewalls and antivirus software, but also insider threat mitigation, OT segmentation, endpoint detection across mobile fleets, and real-time incident response plans that are rehearsed, not theoretical.

During my time at Areva (now Orano), I led the deployment of multinational crisis management plans, including live drills across sites and continents. Today, I apply that same discipline in helping mining companies in Australia and beyond build cyber incident response capabilities that are not only compliant with ISO 27001 or IEC 62443 standards, but also tailored to real-world industrial environments – from satellite-linked SCADA systems to air-gapped drilling equipment.

Mining is uniquely exposed to both cyber and physical risks. Operational downtime can cost millions per day. Reputational damage from a data breach can take years to undo. And as ESG expectations rise, cybersecurity is becoming a board-level issue tied to sustainability and investor trust.

At Cyber Node, we work with mining operators to test their systems – not just through penetration testing and red teaming, but by assessing how well their teams respond under simulated attack scenarios. These tabletop exercises reveal weaknesses in communication, escalation, and decision-making that tools alone cannot fix.

The future of mining depends on resilience. And resilience today must include cybersecurity, not as an afterthought but as a core pillar of operational excellence.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/special-reports/05062025/bridging-cybersecurity-and-industrial-risk/