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September 23, 2019 |
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In this Issue
• Opinion: To Secure Industrial IoT, Use Segmentation Instead of Firewalls
• It's Time for IoT Security's Next Big Step
• IIoT Adoption Program Launched to Help IT, OT End Users
• The Gap Between Strong Cybersecurity And Demands For Connectivity Is Getting Massive
• More Stories
Industry News
Opinion: To Secure Industrial IoT, Use Segmentation Instead of Firewalls
Business leaders increasingly want to bring together operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) to drive better insights from the combined data set, says ZK Research's Zeus Kerravala. This would allow the industrial internet of things (IIoT) to fall under IT ownership, but doing so would significantly affect the cybersecurity team due to the emergence of new threats. Each connected endpoint, if breached, creates a backdoor into the other systems. Derek Harp, founder and chairman of the Control System Cyber Security Association International, describes the current IIoT environments as getting “more porous” as networks continue to evolve and become more open as third parties need access to data from internal systems. Kerravala believes security professionals should turn towards IIoT micro-segmentation, under which the environmental separation is done at the device level and managed with rules instead of at the network layer. With VLANs and ACLs, all devices, including IIoT endpoints, would need to be assigned to a VLAN. If the endpoint moves, the network then needs to be reconfigured to accommodate. The benefit of segmentation is that it is done in software and operates at the device connectivity layer, so policies follow the endpoints. For instance, a rule could be created where all medical devices are in a particular segment and isolated from the rest of the connected nodes. If a medical device moves, the policy goes with it and there would be no need to reconfigure things.
Network World (09/11/19) Kerravala, Zeus
It's Time for IoT Security's Next Big Step
Internet of Things (IoT) devices are increasingly being equipped with basic security protections, but those minimum standards are only part of the solution, said researchers at the recent DerbyCon security conference in Louisville, Ky. "IoT devices have a pervasive impact on our lives, yet very little thought has been given to how to respond if those devices are misused," observed Lesley Carhart at security firm Dragos. Some researchers are focusing on so-called operating-system-agnostic sentinels to patrol different types of embedded devices. Deral Heiland, IoT research lead at security operations firm Rapid7, is applying a hardware-level analysis approach to develop new IoT assessment tools. Heiland mapped the circuit layouts of two different smart locks to examine "inter-chip" communications on device motherboards. This enabled him to look at how data flowed between components such as the main device processor, the Wi-Fi processing chip, and the Bluetooth Low Energy chip. Heiland identified several weaknesses in how those smart locks handled communication between chips, as well as with the "bridge" components that link IoT devices to larger networks like the internet. By capturing inter-chip communications, Heiland could determine sensitive information about the authentication keys used to secure the device, including whether they were short enough to potentially be brute-forced, whether the system always required authentication or applied it inconsistently, and whether keys change were always the same.
Wired (09/12/19) Newman, Lily Hay
IIoT Adoption Program Launched to Help IT, OT End Users
The Industrial Internet Consortium's (IIC) IIC accelerator program is designed to stimulate the adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) so information technology and operations technology can be used to address real business challenges. The program covers several initiatives to appeal to IoT technology end users who want to discuss problems with their peers, get advice from IIC specialists, or find guidance to solve technical difficulties. The program lets users realize concrete results by aiding with problem definition, identifying technologies, supplying a neutral innovation platform, and delivering pilots. "Our goal is to reduce technology end user uncertainty around IoT and to help guide the industry users through their IoT journey," said IIC's Howard Kradjel. "Most companies have a few security, analytics, or deep learning experts on staff, but the IIC has them all. Our neutral platform fosters partnering and helps technology end users solve real problems via our member ecosystem." Among the accelerator program's components are collaborative councils of senior executives representing various sectors interested in establishing vision and influencing direction in IoT in an industry and deploying, testing, or using IoT solutions in their facilities. The program also features testbeds for new concepts, new business models, and emerging technologies, while public contests encourage validation of IIoT applications and solutions.
Control Engineering (09/17/19)
The Gap Between Strong Cybersecurity And Demands For Connectivity Is Getting Massive
The gap between responsible cybersecurity and the connectivity demands of the industrial internet of things (IIoT) is increasing. More devices and less adequate resources mean the attack surface continues to grow. Research experts at McKinsey have reported that approximately 127 new devices are currently connected to the internet every second. By 2025, it is expected there will be over 75 billion devices online globally. The existing stack cannot handle those demands for connectivity. Traditional firewalls and VLANs were designed to patch singular security issues, not to provide a holistic model for secure networking. A simple hack can cause costly downtime, but more sophisticated effort at system intrusion could endanger public safety or spark an international incident. Achieving a successful hybrid IT/OT environment relies on several factors, including visibility. The ability to monitor the health of your digital assets is vital. Devices, users, and traffic must be identifiable for data acquisition to provide the needed visibility into your entire network. Also, the quicker you can identify and recover from network issues makes for a resilient environment. Optimize reliability by cloaking the network attack surface and automating network policies to eliminate mistakes caused by human error. The ability to add, revoke or move tens of thousands of endpoints is the new normal. Successful OT/IT convergence requires secure connectivity at immense scale for all devices. Finally, IIoT networking must be manageable by those who are not IT experts. Intuitive, centralized orchestration that anyone can use is the path to success.
Forbes (09/16/19) Hussey, Jeff
Future of Industrial Automation: Discern the Possibilities, Potential
The industrial automation space has traditionally been resistant to innovation or early adoption of high-end technologies. However, things have started to change radically with the advent of Industry 4.0. The industrial space has been impacted with incremental technology changes, rapid adoption of new systems, and augmented networking architectures over the last decade. Industrial automation is poised to deliver almost $209 billion in revenue by 2020 with new instrumentation and control products driving the growth. The convergence of advanced information, communication and networking technologies is driving automation and its industrial applications. This symbiosis of technologies has enabled integration and collaboration of people and machines across the factory floor and the supply chain. As digitization enables manufacturers to use data in a variety of ways, there is a collective need to implement scalable control systems that allow a manufacturing process to scale according to business needs. Given the proliferation of large-scale, continuous and parameterized industrial devices digitization has fostered, this need will turn into an obligation. Manufacturers looking to successfully converge have to vertically and horizontally integrate advanced control systems with lower field sensing and data acquisition layer and enterprise management systems. Manufacturers will have to stress integrating control system functionalities such as remote access, condition monitoring, and remote diagnostics. One integrated control platform will enable companies to enhance efficiency and productivity and achieve plant-wide process optimization and enhanced user experience.
Control Engineering (09/13/19) Panda, Keshab
Why IIoT Is a Priority for Manufacturers
Manufacturers are prioritizing industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deployments as the technologies' accessibility, capabilities, and utility expands. IIoT initiatives offer new ways of squeezing more efficiencies from industrial processes, which is a major focus as the need to reduce operating costs through operational upgrades becomes a paramount concern. For instance, gaining real-time insights into operations lets manufacturers respond faster to manufacturing chain disruptions, and permits the mitigation of time- and cost-consuming outages. Manufacturers also can make new products and iterate on existing lines based on data collected from IIoT-linked devices. Companies making initial IIoT forays must have a solid strategy, with device connectivity and basic real-time analytics the chief investment area, to ensure manufacturers can not only deploy new technologies but also comprehensively understand what is required to continually bring devices onto the platform and then monitor their operations. Manufacturers that opt to deploy IIoT should do so intelligently, with initial projects co-used across teams and operational processes, and carefully scouted to provide the highest impact and value over the shortest possible time. Moreover, manufacturers deploying IIoT for the first time need to prepare for immediate action if the deployment does not deliver expected results.
Manufacturing Tomorrow (09/17/19) Riley, Sean
Additive Manufacturing Materials: 3D Printing's Greatest Challenge
Material cost and selection is one of the major targets in the development and adoption of 3D printing in industrial production. The rate of adoption of industrial additive manufacturing will be directly correlated to availability of a diverse range of custom commodity and engineering materials. Engineering.com spoke with additive manufacturing experts at this year’s RAPID tct trade show hosted in Detroit, Michigan. Whether they fuse powder, cure resin or lay down filament, 3D printers have come a long way in terms of accuracy, precision, reliability, and capability. But industry experts say material selection is truly the frontier of development for additive manufacturing.
Engineering.com (08/16/19) Anderton, James
3D Printing Is Making Headway in Composite Manufacturing
The three-dimensional (3D) printing community is increasingly highlighting functionality as the industry transitions from the stereotype of rapid prototyping. In the discipline of metal additive manufacturing, metals like titanium, which possess high tensile strength and low density, are perfect for lightweight applications—but composites offer advantages in applications where metals are not lightweight enough. One composite is carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymers (CFPB), valued for their high strength to weight ratio. Their popularity is being fueled by most 3D printing systems' inability to print continuous CFRP, as well as the tendency for increased nozzle wear. The Markforged startup has dominated the composite 3D printing market with its software and hardware for enabling continuous fiber 3D printing, although it is being challenged by both startups and entrenched market leaders. The Anisoprint 3D printer manufacturer is the first direct rival to Markforged with its composite basalt fiber reinforced thermoplastic filament for use with their Anisoprint Composer. Basalt RFP is 15 times stronger than plastic, five times lighter than steel, and 1.5 times stronger and lighter than aluminum. The material also is radio transparent, which makes it perfect for non-conductive elements and insulators.
IDTechEx (09/17/19) Core, Bryony
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