TECHNOLOGY THREATS Ӏ SPECIAL REPORT
CONNECTIVITY CONCERNS
So much for ship-to-shore cybersecurity. But you do not have to be a major port operator to be vulnerable to a cyber-attack. Almost every crane in operation today is part of the Internet of Things. Connnectivity has brought great benefits to owners and to operators: remote monitoring improves efficiencies, predictive maintenance prevents breakdowns, and so on. But with the gains come vulnerabilities. Any fleet crane operator, of
mobile, tower or any other kind of crane, and of many cranes or just a few, could find their operations attacked or undermined by a cyberattack, possibly disastrously. And it is becoming easier, not
harder, to do. AI has burst upon the scene. It makes many things easier for many people. And that includes the potential bad actors. AI can write software; it can do
it for anyone. If instructed, it can write software for hackers. Such people no longer need expert skills in programming; they can write their instructions to AI in simple English (‘produce a virus that can enter such-and-such a piece of software’), then sit back with a coffee while the AI does the work. Their potential victims,
therefore, need to become equally clever, perhaps also using AI for protection. The system develops into a race with no winners. Evolutionary biologists know the game well. They call it the Red Queen hypothesis; in it predators and prey each have to invest huge amounts of energy to evolve as quickly as they can to survive again the new methods evolved by the other. Everyone has to run very fast just to stay still. What, then, can crane
operators do to protect themselves? Manufacturers are aware of the issues and have products to minimise the risk.
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MINIMISING RISK In May this year Siemens introduced a system for protection of critical infrastructure and production systems. Called SIBERprotect, it is an advanced, real-time, system which responds to a cyberattack within milliseconds. It isolates and quarantines the infected equipment to facilitate faster resumption of normal operations. Quick response leads to much easier remediation and resumption of normal operations. This rapid assessment and remediation vastly limits the
risk of additional malware contamination, the company claims. Work cells and equipment clusters can continue operation while SIBERprotect is designed to prevent recontamination during the remediation work. SIBERprotect provides a cure
for a cyberattack virus. Prevention, though, is far better than cure. For this Siemens offers its Xcelerator software. It automatically identifies vulnerable production assets before any attack, rather than waiting for a virus to try to enter. It is designed to protect OT machines – OT standing for ‘Operational technology’, like presses, lathes and cranes – from attack through their digital connections. The software can spot the vulnerabilities of each of a user’s operational assets, prioritise them, and engage in mitigation measures. Where a threat is detected in
the network SIBERprotect provides detailed situational awareness, alerting operators to the exact nature of the threat, where it was detected in the network and gives an indication of the criticality level – how serious the attack may be. This immediately available
detail allows the response engine to simultaneously execute emergency measures to alleviate worst-case scenarios. Conventional systems, says Siemens, merely send messages to a security operations centre; the SIBERprotect system, on the other hand, is linked directly to network firewalls, automation hardware, and a prioritised system of alarms. This facilitates isolation of equipment and jumpstarts the cyber incident response. Crane makers are acutely
aware of the dangers. With the connectivity they are giving their cranes they try also to make that connectivity secure. Konecranes, for example, has its ‘
yourkonecranes.com’ customer portal, and Truconnect suite
40 CRANES TODAY
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