Ausgabe zur EMO 2019

16 Ausg.Nr._13/2019 cyber attacks D ata security is gaining in importance as Industry 4.0 takes shape. Auto- mation, cloud applications and globally networked machines and components play key roles when it comes to shielding sys- tems from external threats. As digitalisation becomes more prevalent across industries, there is a growing need for companies to safeguard against cyber risks. This is because German industry is increasingly becoming a target for cybercriminals: more than eight in ten industrial companies (84 per cent) have reported an increase in the number of cyber attacks in the past two years, with more than a third (37 per cent) reporting a strong increase. This is the result of a 2018 survey con- ducted by the Bitkom digital as- sociation, which interviewed 503 managing directors and security officers from all sectors of indus- try. "German industry is under constant digital fire – from petty digital criminals, organised crime and even statebacked hackers," says Bitkom President Achim Berg. "The nature and scale of the cyber attacks is set to increase." One thing is certain, however: cybercrime is a worldwide phe- nomenon that does not stop at national borders or at locked fac- tory gates. It can happen wherev- er people use computers, smart- phones or other IT devices. Responding to security vulner- abilities and software bugs The Balluff Group is a global player in the automation sec- tor. With its workforce of 4,000 employees the company offers a comprehensive portfolio of sen- sor, identification, network and software solutions for all areas of automation. Protecting against cybercrime is a key aspect in the development and design of cus- tomer solutions. "Cybercriminals often use known vulnerabilities or bugs in out- dated software to gain access to a system. "Promptly installing updates and security patches considerably reduces the risk of cyber attacks," says Philipp Ech- teler, IIoT Strategy Manager at Balluff. Using versioned software and firmware and monitoring these help create greater trans- parency. "Avoidable dangers also emanate from devices that were originally only designed for com- munication with the controller of iso-lated networks, and not for connection to the Internet. Many of these Ethernet-enabled auto- mation devices have no protec- tion features, which leaves them vulnerable to attack," continues Echteler. Protecting systems from ma- nipulation and cybercrime But what are the best ways to protect complex networked sys- tems against manipulation and cybercrime? "In principle, any networked system represents a possible point of attack. a well- designed security concept is therefore indispensable for safe- guarding such systems against manipulation and cybercrime," says Juliane Schneider, Junior Product Manager at Symmedia. Symmedia GmbH from Bielefeld has been developing service solutions for the mechanical engineering sector since 1997. The company's digitalisation ex- pertise – especially in the field of mechanical and plant engineer- ing – is strengthened by its al- liance with Georg Fischer, a me- chanical engineering company to which Symmedia has belonged since 2017. "When it comes to handling sensi- tive data, any human negligence poses a security risk. An unno- ticed cyberattack, the reckless multiple use of passwords or the deliberate divulgence of confi- dential data, any human action can have major consequences and cause significant damage," says Schneider, listing just some of the more obvious risks. Ech- teler adds: "The risks which arise from internal threats should not be underestimated. Employees unthinkingly open email attach- ments which can be used to smuggle in viruses unnoticed, or they send critical company infor- mation in unencrypted form by email." Poorly protected or for- gotten maintenance access rou- tines represent back doors that attackers can then use for their own purposes. Firewalls that automatically conduct trustworthiness checks Encryption mechanisms such as SSL or TLS must be deployed as standard in order to protect com- plex networked systems from ma- nipulation and cybercrime. These encrypt all data traffic between servers, computers and applica- tions in a network. Another com- mon practice is to install a firewall which checks the trustworthiness of all parties seeking access to a computer in order to automati- cally protect it from attacks or un- authorised access. "Having separate production and office networks offers additional security. Further recommen- dations include minimising the number of network accesses and routing the data stream via a cen- tral, monitored gateway. Potential threats can often be identified at an early stage if data and network traffic levels and individual nodes are also continuously analysed," says Echteler, citing further options that can help increase security. Solutions for data security in networked production Balluff has established its own team of experts to offer com- prehensive consulting services to customers all over the world. Some of the Balluff devices now also feature hardware encryption based on the Trusted Platform module. In addition to minimum requirements such as firewall protection, Symmedia also uses HSM and TPM procedures (based on so-called hardware security and Trusted Platform modules) to ensure that only secure software is run. "We also use a proprietary network protocol to provide very high level protection against un- wanted access. It is virtually im- possible to hack into these con- nections," says Schneider. The company uses a secure and workflow-based point-to-point link for digital service support. "The use of common encryption, authentication and authorisa- tion procedures for client applica- tions, servers and programming Protecting machine tools from cyber attacks EMO Hannover 2019 showcasing solutions for complex networked systems Continue more at Page 19 ➞