Shared workstations are essential to productivity in manufacturing, but they can also create blind spots in your organization’s security. Inadequate identity verification, poor security practices, and a lack of accountability make them a prime target for ransomware, phishing, and insider attacks.
Security leaders often aren’t sure about where to begin when securing shared workstations. This article explores the challenges of shared workstation security and offers practical solutions tailored to the realities of the manufacturing floor.
Key takeaways:
- Shared workstations are essential in manufacturing, but can make it hard to maintain visibility and control over IT infrastructure.
- Securing shared workstations is difficult due to mixed infrastructure, constant shift rotations, a lack of user accountability, and poor cyber hygiene.
- When left unsecured, these endpoints can disrupt production, expose sensitive data, damage your brand, and compromise your compliance efforts.
- The solution lies in well-defined, tech-enabled processes tailored to your manufacturing needs, such as access management, user identification, and session monitoring.
What makes shared workstation security so difficult?
Addressing the security risks of shared workstations requires a closer look at what makes them so challenging to protect.
Mixed infrastructure
Shared workstations in industrial settings take many forms, including fixed kiosks, grab-and-go devices, and terminals. Furthermore, manufacturers may struggle with managing outdated or unsupported systems that weren’t built to withstand modern threats.
Thus, it might be challenging for security teams to implement consistent and effective protection measures across all shared workstations.
Fast-paced, high-turnover environment
In manufacturing, shift-based operations and high personnel turnover are usual. These processes can interfere with centralized access management strategies, oversight mechanisms, and regular audits. That may lead to unauthorized access to sensitive assets and result in insider threats, whether by a malicious actor stealing data or a careless employee bypassing security protocols.
Lack of individual accountability
In many manufacturing facilities, employees share not only workstations but also accounts. When multiple users share the same account credentials, accountability breaks down. Thus, tracking who performed specific actions on a workstation becomes impossible, undermining audit and incident response processes.
High-pressure workflows
Manufacturing floors operate on tight schedules. Workers need quick access to shared systems without delays or disruptions. When security measures such as complex password verification or lengthy authentication processes introduce friction and slow down production, people find shortcuts. That’s when workarounds and poor security practices might become an issue.
Password sharing
Password sharing may seem practical for employees in high-pressure operational settings, but it opens the door to significant cybersecurity risks. Whether credentials are written on sticky notes, reused across systems, or passed between shifts, these habits erode access control integrity. In 2024, stolen credentials were a factor in 34% of all data breaches in manufacturing, according to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report.
While securing shared workstations comes with significant challenges, neglecting those challenges isn’t an option. If left unprotected, shared terminals can eventually lead to security breaches and disrupt your entire production process.
The cost of weak shared workstation security
In manufacturing, an exploited workstation can halt production, compromise sensitive data, and expose the organization to regulatory and reputational risk.
The consequences of inadequate shared workstation security
Operational disruptions or halted production
Shared workstations connect directly to systems that manage assembly lines, robotic controls, or production planning. Compromised endpoints can trigger shutdowns or system malfunctions. Even a few hours of downtime can result in missed delivery deadlines, unplanned overtime, and broken service level agreements.
Loss or disclosure of sensitive information
Shared workstations often serve as access points to sensitive assets, from design files and customer information to production quality records. Without proper security measures, outside attackers or internal users could extract or damage valuable data that’s critical to production and your facility’s competitive advantage. Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that in manufacturing, corporate data is exposed in 64% of breaches.
A security incident on a shared workstation can also erode customer trust. Whether caused by leaked customer data, production delays, or compliance violations, the perception of weak security can damage relationships with clients, partners, and investors.
Shared workstation security risks can also undermine your facility’s compliance with regulations like CMMC, DFARS, ISO/IEC 27001, or NIS2. These frameworks mandate unique user identification, access controls, and auditability — the exact areas where shared workstations often cause problems. Besides regulatory fines, violations can lead to failed audits, missed contracts, loss of certifications, or exclusion from government and defense supply chains.
While the risks are real, they’re not unmanageable. With the right security processes in place, you can transform shared workstations from a point of exposure into a controlled and secure part of your infrastructure.
Request access to Syteca’s online demo!
See how Syteca can help you manage security risks within your manufacturing environment.
Practical solutions for securing shared workstations in manufacturing
Efficient protection of shared workstations is dependent on security processes that are driven by clear policies and supported by dedicated tech. Below you’ll find the key processes your manufacturing organization must implement to protect shared workstations.
User authentication
Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) to block unauthorized access to shared workstations. MFA is critically important for manufacturing facilities, but it should be both secure and efficient. For instance, mobile-based MFA is a bad option for production floors where phones are restricted or gloves are mandatory. You must understand your employees’ needs and your environment’s specific factors to choose the proper MFA method.
Every session on a shared workstation should begin with a login tied to an individual user. Without this, it’s impossible to track who is accessing critical systems or making changes. Avoid shared accounts wherever possible and enforce the “one person, one identity” principle instead. This not only supports positive audit outcomes but also reduces the risk of misuse or untraceable activity. If shared accounts are unavoidable, add a secondary authentication layer to ensure that each user is uniquely identified and activity logs are traceable.
Access management
Look for a unified privileged access management (PAM) solution to enforce consistent access control policies across every device, whether it be a legacy workstation or a modern IoT solution. Deploying dedicated PAM software will reduce friction for your IT teams and support compliance with security regulations.
When managing employees’ access permissions, adhere to the principle of least privilege. Ensure employees can only access what they need according to their job roles. For example, machine operators should be able to run the software they require but not change settings or access sensitive files. Engineers or supervisors may need elevated rights, which should be restricted in scope and regularly reviewed.
Password management
Strong password hygiene is essential for securing shared workstations. First and foremost, prohibit password sharing between co-workers and require each user to have their own credentials to minimize exposure. In cases where password sharing is unavoidable, ensure it is done through a controlled system.
Credentials should meet strong requirements, such as creating complex, unique, and hard-to-crack passwords. Enforce policies that require a minimum password length with a mix of character types, and prohibit the use of commonly breached or easily guessable passwords.
Deploy a password management solution to simplify secure password use. It is especially important in environments where shared accounts still exist to deploy solutions that offer credential vaulting and automatic rotation. You may also explore passwordless authentication methods to further reduce risk.
These approaches eliminate human error and attacks targeting traditional passwords.
Endpoint protection
Shared workstations must be treated as high-risk endpoints and configured accordingly. Start with automatic screen locking, ensuring sessions on every device time out after a short period of inactivity. Even a few unattended minutes can open the door to misuse and sensitive data compromise.
Next, install reliable anti-malware and antivirus solutions to protect against common threats such as ransomware and keyloggers.
Finally, make regular patching a habitual part of your security hygiene. Many attacks exploit known vulnerabilities in unpatched software. Ensure operating systems and applications receive timely security updates, particularly on production workstations that still use legacy software.
Monitoring and session management
Monitoring user activity on shared workstations can help you avoid intentional and inadvertent misuse within your facility. You may choose to record all user sessions or only those that involve elevated privileges to get a full picture of what employees are doing.
Configure automated alerts to flag suspicious activity, such as unauthorized application use or prohibited USB device connections. Such alerts ensure fast threat detection, allowing your security team to contain and investigate security issues before they escalate.
It’s crucial to maintain a defined incident response plan and the ability to automate responses wherever possible. For instance, automated user blocking can accelerate incident containment, giving you the opportunity to act before security threats escalate. Finally, leverage comprehensive user activity reporting. Reports are essential during internal security reviews, external audits, or assessments under compliance regulations. They demonstrate who accessed which systems and whether their actions align with your policies, helping you prove due diligence in cybersecurity.
Security awareness training
Employee awareness and accountability are just as important for shared workstation security as technological safeguards. Start by establishing and publishing clear policies on acceptable use. Define how employees should access shared workstations, what activities are prohibited (e.g., password sharing or leaving an active session unattended), and outline the consequences for violations.
Fostering a culture of transparency and accountability is equally important. Employees should feel safe reporting mistakes or raising concerns when they notice unusual activity. Since security incidents can escalate quickly if ignored or hidden, early reporting enables faster detection.
Security awareness training should be conducted during employee onboarding and periodically during employment. It should explain the importance of key concepts like individual authentication, proper session logout procedures, and recognizing phishing attempts. The more security is embedded in your staff’s daily routines, the more resilient your manufacturing operations are.
How can Syteca protect your shared workstations?
Syteca is a platform that provides effective cybersecurity tools to help manufacturing entities protect their IT environments, including shared workstations and other sensitive endpoints.
With Syteca, you can:
- Verify user identities using two-factor authentication (2FA). Syteca also provides secondary authentication to trace actions performed under shared and default accounts back to specific users.
- Strictly control privileged access by granularly assigning access permissions and requiring manual approvals for sensitive endpoints. Limit security risks by configuring time-bound access and providing one-time access credentials.
- Manage credentials through a centralized password vault that securely stores, rotates, and encrypts passwords. Configure role-based access to secrets, provide flexible but secure password sharing, and ensure exclusive use of privileged credentials.
- Continuously monitor and record on-screen user activity, typed keystrokes, and the use of websites, apps, and USB devices during all or just specific user sessions across endpoints. Receive notifications about abnormal activity and audit sessions live or through recordings.
- Configure a rule-based alert and incident response system to detect policy violations and suspicious user activity, and trigger real-time responses like displaying warning messages, blocking users, or terminating risky processes.
- Generate over 30 types of user activity reports on demand or according to a specified schedule to analyze activity across the production floor. Export reports in multiple formats for auditing and forensic analysis, and integrate Syteca with Microsoft Power BI to gain visual insights.
Syteca is designed for easy deployment and scalability within dynamic production environments. It can be installed quickly and scales effortlessly, whether you need to secure a handful of shared terminals or hundreds of endpoints across multiple production sites.
With its tamper-resistant, lightweight software agent, high availability mode, and offline user activity monitoring capabilities, Syteca ensures continuous protection without operational disruptions.
Gain oversight and control over shared workstations
Though securing shared workstations in manufacturing can be challenging, it doesn’t have to be your weak link. With the right processes and tools, you can secure shared workstations and reduce the risks they bring to your manufacturing facility.
Syteca empowers you to enforce secure access, monitor sessions, protect workstation credentials, and detect and respond to suspicious actions, all without disrupting your operations.
Want to try Syteca?
Request access to the online demo!
See why clients from 70+ countries already use Syteca.