Industrial cybersecurity

The Industry 4.0 is a substantial development for companies in the industrial sector, improving work stations, making them more efficient in terms of productivity and performance, with more effective resource management and improved production processes to increase profitability.

To this end, tools such as IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing, etc., have helped in this process, so that everyone from suppliers to clients can predict, control, plan and produce in a smart way, creating greater value for the entire chain. Thus, production plants can be modernised, and even converted into smart factories, characterised by constant, instantaneous intercommunication between the different work stations in the production network, and the servers that are part of the office network.

The use of sensors with plant machines and tools endows them with the ability to self-diagnose their status. This provides for remote control, guaranteeing their eventual removal from service, as well as better integration into the global production system.

From what we can observe, the Industry 4.0 is digitalising an entire area that was traditionally isolated, using information it extracts from different machines that act to optimise company performance. Yet in this interconnection, we must bear in mind how and what information is flowing through these new scenarios that are arising, since they are not exempt from the dangers customary on traditional IT communications networks, such as industrial espionage, information loss, sabotage, etc.

The aim of this project is to:

• Detect, dominate and develop technologies to guarantee communications in industrial settings, so they are carried out in a suitable fashion.
• Implement infrastructures that do not allow unauthorised access to critical networks.
• Use the information generated by the different production machines to detect possible anomalies in their operation

In summary, mitigate possible risks and threats that come with the implementation of the Industry 4.0.