INSPIRATION
The flow of information due to the connectedness in Industry 4.0 is raising concerns about security, transparency,and privacy. As the manufacturing practices are increasingly becoming personal and customizable, the data management practices done outside and within the shop floor will hugely
influence the appeal of the company. The transmission and processing of sensitive industrial data need to be done securely to avoid cyberattacks on critical industrial facilities.
Digital ethics and privacy, privacy-enhancing technologies,self adaptive security, zero-trust security, end-to-end communication security, DevSecOps, blockchain are some of the new developments in this front. The focus on cybersecurity needs to be balanced with transparency and privacy.
Spanish startup Alias Robotics develops a robot immune system (RIS), an endpoint protection platform for robots. This solution provides malware protection to robots and robotic components. The modular architecture of RIS gives the system flexibility and adaptability and caters to a variety of robots. The company also offers a secure data recorder for investigating cyber attacks or malfunctions in robots. The use of industrial robots in all stages of manufacturing is necessitating innovations like RIS.
Industry 4.0 makes use of smart, connected devices sourced from multiple vendors. These devices need to be updated constantly with the latest software, firmware, and configuration files. Adolus is a Canadian startup providing a secure update process for embedded devices. Cybercriminals potentially interfere with the upgrading process and compromise industrial facilities by tricking the staff into installing infected files. Adolus develops FACT, which solves this problem by working with equipment vendors to collect unique fingerprints of the files and compares these fingerprints with the ones received by the manufacturers. FACT gives a confidence rating during installation as well as visibility over the upgrading processes in critical systems.
