Challenge of integrating existing systems to the new Industry 4.0 with Cybersecurity requirements

The term “industry 4.0” is widely used to describe digital transformation¹ and the modern concepts that are being introduced in the industrial area.

This name can be used to define an industrial project of the type " green-field ", that is, totally new and that uses the global connections between factories, customers and suppliers distributed throughout the planet. Or they could implement a simple measurement of process parameters using an IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things) and also call it Industry 4.0.

Cybersecurity, in any case, must be considered. However, cyber attacks do not wait for the 4.0 label to proliferate. It all depends on the real business and the planned and existing vulnerabilities. On the other hand, the latter are related to digitization or digital transformation, network connections, telecommunications and automation systems, security and protection processes, human intervention, etc. and therefore, business risk analysis must be performed in order to increase security.

“Every connected device is associated with an ultimate point that hackers can identify to infiltrate and manipulate the entire digital ecosystem. Think about it: today's smart factories today have hundreds - and even thousands - of connected sensors. A holistic approach to cybersecurity - from product security to protecting the supply chain - is imperative ”²

The introduction of 5G technology directly affects critical infrastructure, from the telecommunications environment to communication between machines. The new 5G connection capability gives hackers the firepower to increase the impact of attacks and also to accelerate them. For example: 4G has an average bandwidth capacity of 20MB versus 1000MB in 5G. Today's cyber attacks are gunpowder compared to the upcoming hydrogen bombs.

The challenge of integrating existing systems into the new Industry 4.0 with cybersecurity requirements, considering the current cybersecurity environment, focused on cybercrime and cyber war, is a very difficult, slow and expensive job .

The concepts of Industry 4.0 (as integrated MES), IIOT (with numerous applications) and future technologies (such as those related to 5G) bring with them the need to implement operational cybersecurity, a challenge for the industry and for us, professionals in this area.

¹ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2018/04/29/digitization-digitalization-and-digitaltransformation-confuse-them-at-your-peril/#6c9a2cb02f2c. Author's translation.

² Blassiau, Christophe. Original available at: https://blog.se.com/securitymanagement/2020/01/16/is-ot-security-ready-for-the-next-wave-of-cybercrime/. Accessed on 16 jan. 2020. Author's translation.