https://www.iotworldtoday.com/wp-content/themes/ioti_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Galleries
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Video / Podcasts
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Strategic Partners
  • IOT World Events
    • Back
    • Internet of Things World: San Jose
    • IoT World 2020 News
Iot World Today
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Galleries
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Video / Podcasts
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Strategic Partners
  • IOT World Events
    • Back
    • Internet of Things World: San Jose
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • newsletter
  • IIoT
  • Cities
  • Energy
  • Homes/Buildings
  • Transportation/Logistics
  • Connected Health Care
  • Retail
  • AI
  • Architecture
  • Engineering/Development
  • Security
ioti.com

Security


Thinkstock

Image shows a smart factory and wireless communication network.

Industrial IoT Security in Focus As IIC Issues New Guidance

Aiming to boost industrial IoT security as vulnerabilities climb, the IIC issues new guidance on securing critical endpoint devices.
  • Written by Courtney Bjorlin
  • 13th March 2018

New guidance issued by the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) aims to help industrial equipment operators and manufacturers better ensure the safety, security and reliability of IoT endpoint devices.

Drawing on and pulling together guidance issued by both the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the 13-page white paper provides concrete measures to take to secure critical endpoint devices like pumps, actuators, controllers and drives across industries and verticals. While IEC and NIST have done a good job of characterizing risk, the paper’s co-authors said, the white paper provides a consistent approach on how to build a secure system within the level of risk assessed. In such a way, it provides concise, concrete best practices that can, for instance, be included in RFPs when acquiring new equipment or planning upgrades.

“We have an opportunity here to begin at the ground floor of OT security. Let’s build these elements into the systems as opposed to bolting them on,” said Dean Weber, CTO of Mocana and one of the co-authors of the paper. “This gets us started with the endpoint as being the place where the rubber meets the road. If we get that right, we can start moving outbound from that.”

The white paper, “Endpoint Security Best Practices,” is the work of the Security Applicability Group within the IIC Security Working Group. It builds on the reference architecture documentation and IIoT security best practices issued in 2016 with the IIC Industrial Internet Security Framework (IISF).

[Internet of Things World addresses the security concerns for IoT implementation in every vertical, attracting senior security professionals from the world’s biggest organizations. Get your tickets and free expo passes now.]

Recommendations in the new white paper draw on and distill guidance issued in IEC 62443 and NIST SP-800-53. It breaks security into three levels – basic, enhanced and critical – describing what countermeasures and controls are generally recommended to achieve each level of security. Aside from the benefits to OT professionals, this helps equipment manufacturers and integrators define which security level their products, systems, and solutions are designed to meet, according to the white paper. It also can help insurers and policy makers by establishing a common benchmark that can be used to analyze risk and encourage security improvements, according to the white paper. 

It is the first of six areas of industrial IoT security that will be examined by the group, which plans to publish additional security best practices documents to cover areas like data protection, communications and connectivity.

Starting by better defining endpoint security made sense for a number of reasons, according to interviews with the co-authors. 

For one, in the industrial community, the focus has been about safety and reliability for decades, and adding the realm of cyber security to that has not been simple, Weber said. Because a lot of industrial equipment operators don’t have the background in cyber security, it’s hard to identify the priorities and what concerns should be addressed, according to Steve Hanna, IIC white paper co-author, and Senior Principal, Infineon Technologies.

“With just broad guidelines, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation and possible confusion of omitting measures that need to be taken,” Hanna said.

A dearth of people with these skills, coupled with the growing vulnerability of endpoint devices – something made clear by the Stuxnet attacks — has heightened the stakes for security, according to Weber.

“The endpoint is where it starts and stops,” Weber said. “If you’re going to make decisions, sometimes life or death decisions on data, and you don’t have any knowledge about whether the device that generated that data is any good, you don’t know if can trust it.”

The broad applicability of the document, and the fact that several parties from across industries have come together both requesting and working to produce guidance, shows how important the security conversation has become in the industrial space, according to Hanna.

“The fact that these parties have come together in the IIC, and put together this guidance document, these are all very helpful signs,” Hanna said. “It is very promising that we see industries stepping up to the plate and taking action.”

Tags: Article IIoT/Manufacturing Security Technologies Vertical Industries

Related


  • Schneider Electric has made digital twins a priority.
    Persistent Pandemic Heightens Need for Supply Chain Data Transparency
    As COVID-19 continues to rip through society and the economy, supply chains have turned to control tower technology and digital twins to gain better insight.
  • Industrial IoT platform
    Industry 4.0 Embraces 5G As Need for Real-Time Manufacturing Data Mounts
    Lacroix Electronics factory is testing 5G technology to fuel real-time manufacturing data and create an Industry 4.0 factory of the future.
  • Smart and Flexible Automotive and Tire Production
    Automakers and their suppliers are racing toward a future of smart automotive production – where operations are efficient, data-driven, and highly responsive to technology and demand changes. Digital solutions are essential to making the smart production a reality. And while a range of digital solutions exists on the market, a select few will have the […]
  • How To Become A Software-Driven Car Manufacturer with an Autonomous Digital Platform
    Cubic’s latest eBook sets out how automakers can future-proof their fleets and optimize user experience, via in-car connected, data-driven software.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your IoT World Today account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Content

  • AI Ups the Ante for IoT Cybersecurity
  • Five Principles in a Zero-Trust Security Approach to IoT
  • The eSIM Cookbook - Towards the Next Generation of Connected Devices
  • Drone Technology Extends Reach of Mobile IoT

News

View all

Private LTE Market Projected to Grow to $13 Billion

12th January 2021

IoT World Announces 2021 IoT World Advisory Board

9th December 2020

White Papers

View all

The eSIM Cookbook – Towards the Next Generation of Connected Devices

22nd February 2021

eSIM Delivers Greater Freedom for OEMs – by Beecham Research and Truphone

22nd February 2021

Special Reports

View all

Cybersecurity Protection Increasingly Depends on Machine Learning

28th October 2020

Webinars

View all

Weber’s Journey: How a Top Grill Maker Serves Up Connected Cooking

25th February 2021

From Insights to Action: Best Practices for Implementing Connected Device Security

15th December 2020

Galleries

View all

Top IoT Trends to Watch in 2020

26th January 2020

Five of the Most Promising Digital Health Technologies

14th January 2020

Industry Perspectives

View all

IoT Spending Holds Firm — Tempered by Dose of ‘IoT Pragmatism’

1st December 2020

The Great IoT Connectivity Lockdown

11th May 2020

Events

View all

IoT at the Edge

17th March 2021

Embedded IoT World 2021

28th April 2021 - 29th April 2021

IoT World 2021

2nd November 2021 - 4th November 2021

Twitter

IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

IoT Remote Monitoring Helps Enterprises Traverse COVID-19 and Beyond dlvr.it/RtZ3K5 https://t.co/owJXYf1gkO

26th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Securing the Industrial Internet of Things dlvr.it/RtYfYk https://t.co/khUn79dvQD

26th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

📢 Announcing #EIOTWORLD sponsor, @BluetoothSIG — the global standard for simple, secure wireless connections. ➕ Le… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

How IoT Devices Can Enhance the Connected Customer Experience dlvr.it/RtPcvS

24th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

🤝 Meet #EIOTWORLD speaker Ingo Feldner, Project Lead for Virtual #Hardware Platforms at @RobertBoschGmbH 📅 Join hi… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

24th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Developing IoT Applications with Rust: Using a Rust Development Environment dlvr.it/RtNqrk https://t.co/wOmnoz2UVT

24th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Chip-Enabled Edge AI Drives Next-Gen IoT dlvr.it/RtKcMQ https://t.co/dLjBzE6Qei

23rd February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

The eSIM Cookbook – Towards the Next Generation of Connected Devices dlvr.it/RtG5bB https://t.co/5kXa8Pnv4T

22nd February 2021

Newsletter

Sign up for IoT World Today newsletters: vertical industry coverage on Tuesdays and horizontal tech coverage on Thursdays.

Special Reports

Our Special Reports take an in-depth look at key topics within the IoT space. Download our latest reports.

Business Resources

Find the latest white papers and other resources from selected vendors.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IoT World Series
  • Channel Futures
  • RISC-V
  • Dark Reading
  • ITPro Today
  • Web Hosting Talk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Login/Register

FOLLOW IoT World Today ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X