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Intersecting Safety and Security in Machine Design

End users have worked closely with machine builders to integrate holistic safety standards into operations. Intertwining safety with that is a logical next step.

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Strategies around the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are creating new global manufacturing approaches and different conversations between machine builders and end users. The safety discussions that have become more commonplace between end users and OEMs will increasingly need to involve security as well.

IIoT adoption brings with it added security concerns—more opportunities for hackers to find ways into enterprises as more machines and devices get IP addresses and, in many cases, are connected to the cloud. They will become more susceptible to remote access Trojans, file-stealing malware, ransomware and any number of attacks.

According to a recent AT&T cybersecurity survey of more than 5,000 enterprises, 85 percent of respondents are in the process or are planning to deploy IoT devices; yet only 10 percent of the respondents feel like their security practices are in place.

“OEMs are looking to enable things like remote access to their machines,” says Keith Blodorn, director of ProSoft Technology’s wireless program. “And machine builders need to be able to demonstrate security of remote access connections for end users.”

But end users are still in the driver’s seat for security, according to John Kowal, director of business development at B&R Automation. B&R is a member of the IT/OT committee within the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), and is addressing key network security issues, such as remote access for diagnostics, machine monitoring and all things IIoT.

In the food industry, which is undergoing traceability operational changes brought on by the 2015 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), some companies won’t allow machine builders to remotely diagnose their equipment due to enterprise IT security policies.

“Some [consumer packaged goods] end users are saying data has to be on a secure network and they just haven’t come up with a good solution,” says Erl Campbell, product manager at Aventics, a pneumatics supplier.

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