As digital transformation reshapes industries, the hidden backbone of innovation—connected devices—faces a growing and urgent threat. Billions of IoT and legacy systems are silently working across factory floors, utilities, healthcare facilities, and corporate campuses. But these same devices, essential as they are, now represent the largest and fastest-growing attack surface in the world. And for IT and cybersecurity teams, the risks have outpaced traditional defenses.

I have spent four decades in the networking world, and am now CEO of Isolated Networks, a SaaS company that connects and secures devices and their networks by making them invisible to attackers. At the Smart Test Strategies event, my message to test system engineers was clear : IoT security is not optional anymore. It's the #1 cybersecurity problem, and we can’t continue to rely on outdated network models to secure it.”

The Expanding Attack Surface

It’s important for test system engineers to understand that what they’re testing today is often an IoT device. Whether it's a smart meter, a sensor, a robotic arm, or a medical scanner, these are now internet-connected and highly vulnerable.

Cyberattacks on industrial IoT are no longer theoretical. State actors have penetrated U.S. infrastructure. Small-town utilities have been targeted. Even a connected printer has been the entry point for hackers to reach corporate point-of-sale systems, as in the now-infamous Target breach. Once attackers are inside, they move laterally—what’s called an east-west attacks—to breach the corporate network.

Why Current Infrastructure Falls Short

Firewalls and VPNs were never designed for IoT. They were built when networks were centralized and users logged in from desktop PCs. Routing infrastructure hasn’t fundamentally changed in 30 years, and now we’re asking it to secure millions of low-power, non-human devices that weren’t even a concept when that tech was designed.

What’s worse, most of the servers managing these devices are running outdated software like Windows 2008 or older—unpatched, unsupported, and unsecure.

Zero Trust and Zero Day

Today, there is growing adoption of Zero Trust models in IT that prioritize verification over trust. But applying Zero Trust to thousands or millions of connected devices is technically and logistically challenging.

And then there’s the threat of Zero Day attacks: vulnerabilities that exist before a product is even deployed. If the device is compromised before it even leaves your facility, your customer is under threat from day one, especially when it connects to the Internet for the first time and is visible to hackers.

Rethinking Device Security: Isolate the Network and Make it Invisible

It’s time for a paradigm shift.

That’s why we’ve partnered with Circuit Check to integrate Isolated Networks technology into test systems. This enables the test system to generate its own secure network so it can be connected to the public internet without being detected. These test-system networks deploy away ( are air gapped) from the corporate network so east-west attacks can’t occur. The functionality enables secure remote monitoring and management of the test system, avoiding headaches for IT.

Bigger picture, it enables the type of IT/OT integration that fuels innovation and Industry 4.0., and, frankly, escapes most manufacturers due to budgets and resources.

Invisible, Encrypted, and Isolated

So how does it work? Isolated Networks has developed patent-pending technology that:

• Masks device IP addresses from public visibility, making them undetectable to internet-wide scanners like Shodan using routable private-IP networks and virtualizing routers and policy servers.
• Encrypts all data in transit, protecting communications across private and public networks using identity-based secure tunnels that build up and tear down after use.
• Takes network segmentation to a new level, limiting exposure and isolating devices for secure remote updates or access.

Now, manufacturers can connect factory-floor test systems or remote IoT devices to a secure network—without giving IT teams heartburn. It enables remote visibility and control without exposing the corporate network to risk.

Bottom Line: As the number of connected devices grows exponentially, the tools and strategies to secure them must evolve just as rapidly. Old rules don’t apply in a world of smart everything. Circuit Check has made it easy for its customers to jump over the cost, complexity, and risk of connecting their test systems to the internet. Now, it’s just a feature you turn on. It can’t get any easier than that.

About Mark Feil

Mark Feil is the CEO of Isolated Networks, a company dedicated to securing legacy industrial systems by isolating them from modern threats without disrupting operations. With a strong background in compliance and regulatory standards, Mark has led initiatives to protect aging infrastructure in manufacturing and critical industries. He frequently speaks on topics such as data security, digital transformation, and the challenges of securing legacy platforms. Mark's expertise in compliance management and his innovative approach to cybersecurity make him a valuable voice in discussions about the future of secure industrial operations.