INDUSTRY 4.0/IIOT REVIEWING A SYSTEM’S CYBER RESISTANCE
Joe Lomako, Business Development Manager (IoT) at TÜV SÜD, says, as Industry 4.0 systems advance, users must minimise cyber attack risks
ndustry 4.0 is seeing more automated and sophisticated manufacturing processes being employed, integrating a wealth of new technologies. However, while the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) introduces significant benefits, the critical infrastructure of connected production facilities may be open to cyberattack.
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Businesses must therefore remain vigilant of the new challenges and take steps to minimise the risks that potentially threaten them. This requires ongoing investment in cybersecurity. Manufacturers can manage cybersecurity risk and mitigate attacks by taking a proactive and holistic security planning approach. This will help them to avoid costly product recalls, design changes and possibly heavy penalties due to any data security breaches.
‘Secure by Design’
Such preventative security measures should begin at the design phase and employ the principle of ‘Secure by Design’. However, without clearly understanding and prioritising risks, it is not possible to determine the appropriate security requirements for the product being manufactured or the manufacturer’s IIoT systems. An assessment of the business impact and processes, and probability of risks should therefore be conducted.
Risks can also be minimised by continuously monitoring the security of the IT infrastructure. For example, it is common for companies not to disconnect equipment that is no longer being used. This ‘shadow IT’, creates potential cyberattack gaps, particularly if the software that drives them is no longer supported. The risks can simply be minimised by monitoring the security of the IT infrastructure and
16 FEBRUARY 2025 | PROCESS & CONTROL
decommissioning equipment and software that is no longer required.
After risks are understood, the next step is to evaluate the hardware and software, which is a typical vulnerability surface. Testing of the individual components against requirements determined by the risk assessment is the foundation of a secure product. Security is difficult to install as a software add-on after product development. Every aspect of the product must therefore be assessed for vulnerabilities, including device hardware (chipsets, sensors and actuators), wireless communication modules and protocols, device firmware (OS and embedded applications), cloud platforms and applications. An end-to-end and continuous validation process should also be performed to determine the attack resilience of the individual components and support services. However, it is also important to go beyond embedding security into products, and end- user behaviour should be considered. Such an approach includes unintended misuse by the end-user and ensures that they are made aware of potential issues.
The introduction of the NIS2 Directive (security of network & information systems) in Europe is intended to improve the situation. Other standards also exist or are being developed by international organisations. Although it may seem that the standards do not cover everything, they do at least offer that first line of defence, as until fairly recently, nothing with a focussed scope previously existed.
Manufacturers should therefore also consider their own cybersecurity programmes. For example, a starting point would be: • Think “Secure by Design” and take a proactive approach to cybersecurity
recognising that attacks are “when, not if”. • Ensure up to date compliance with all standards.
• Constantly review ‘cyber resistance’ status. As Industry 4.0 and the IIoT advance, systems and installations will become increasingly interconnected on a global scale. While digitisation and the increasing connectivity provided by the IoT bring enormous opportunities, unforeseeable risks and serious vulnerabilities can be exploited by new forms of cybercrime. Both industrial system security, and the security of wireless products which manufacturers produce, will therefore become increasingly important.
Ongoing investment
Cybercriminals are constantly seeking to exploit opportunities to hack into the critical infrastructure of connected production facilities. As the IIoT is becoming increasingly wirelessly connected, every wireless-enabled product that is manufactured represents a potential threat to data security and privacy. Ongoing investment in cybersecurity is crucial to keep up with technological development, as cybercriminals rapidly develop new forms of attack to hack into critical IT infrastructure. Tackling the problems of cybersecurity risks can therefore only be realised by comprehensive planning, periodic evaluation, updates and monitoring. This must be done continuously, from design through to obsolescence. Remember, that cyberattacks in the IIoT are a case of ‘when, not if’, so manufacturers should ensure that they are fully up to date with compliance requirements and constantly review the ‘cyber resistance’ status of their systems.
TÜV SÜD
www.tuvsud.com/en-gb/services/cyber-security
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