Securing the Smart Warehouse: Cyber Defense for the Connected Supply Chain
Article from MHI Solutions Magazine
WAREHOUSES HAVE UNDERGONE a dramatic transformation over the past decade. What were once primarily manual environments are now dense, digitally orchestrated ecosystems powered by connected devices—barcode scanners, radiofrequency identification (RFID) readers, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), conveyor systems, warehouse execution platforms and environmental sensors—all working together in real time.
This connectivity is unlocking unprecedented gains in speed, accuracy and visibility. But it’s also creating one of the most rapidly expanding—and least understood—cyber risk surfaces in the supply chain. A 2025 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Transportation and Logistics, “Identifying the Key Vulnerabilities in the Warehouses of the Future,” found that more than 70% of warehouse operators rely on interconnected operational technology (OT) systems that were not originally designed with cybersecurity in mind, while more than half lack full visibility into all connected assets within their facilities.
The report also highlights how increased integration, remote access and cloud‑based orchestration have made lateral movement between information technology (IT) and OT environments far more achievable. At the same time, expanding vendor ecosystems—spanning automation providers, software platforms and remote support partners—have introduced new exposure points, with third‑party access now among the most common attack vectors. As a result, many organizations are rethinking traditional IT‑centric security approaches and moving toward more integrated, operations‑aware strategies that better align cybersecurity with the realities of warehouse operations…
