With the advent of IoT, many industries are witnessing a massive shift towards connected devices and creating a connected ecosystem.

Enterprises across the globe are harnessing the power of interconnected devices or the Internet of Things to effectively monitor and track the industrial system parameters in real-time.

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However, connected systems have also given way to more rising cyber risks; therefore, service providers/ OEMs must enable device and platform-level security features.

Why improving industrial IoT Cybersecurity is essential?

According to a report by Markets and Markets, the industrial cybersecurity market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.4%, from USD 16.2 billion in 2022 to USD 20.1 billion in 2027.

The rise of cyberattacks has also reiterated the need for cybersecurity. If this is not addressed, it may lead to a potential business loss that may result in:

• Increaseddowntime
• Excessive power usage
• Meter tampering
• Connectivity spoofing
• Device malfunctioning
• Unauthorized access
• Data theft

Let’s understand how devastating the outcomes of Industrial IoT attacks could be.

In June 2020, JSOF, a cybersecurity firm from Israel, reported aRipple 20. According to the report, Ripple 20affected the industrial ecosystem, mainly manufacturing industries, and resulted in data breaches like data loss from printers, changes in pump parameters, and energy meter tempering, among others.

Many hardware vendors, including some of the most prominent global players, were affected by this cyber-attack. Let us see what could have been done better to avoid such attacks and improve industrial IoT cybersecurity.
How to Improve industrial IoT Cybersecurity.

Firms must set up solid industrial IoT cybersecurity defenses to secure the environment. Some of the best planned industrial IoT infrastructure security solutions ensure minimal or no service disruptions, service reliability, and profitability. Optimum solutions used in the industrial landscape include secure boot, firmware integrity, multi-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption, and gateway security.

Secure Boot- Secure boot prevents the attackers from replacing the firmware with malicious action sets by using cryptographic code signing techniques. This technique ensures that the device only executes the code generated by the OEM only. In general, not all IIOT chipsets are configured with secure boot, making it imperative that the devices communicate only with and via authorized services.

Multifactor Authentication- MFA or Multifactor authentication has become a must-have security feature to prevent unauthorized access to a system or a device. MFA requires users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to devices or applications. This helps in making the system more secure and decreases the likelihood of successful malicious attacks.

End-To-End Encryption- Secure communication protects the data in transit between the device and service infrastructure. End-to-end encryption ensures that only those with the secret decryption key can access the information or decode it.

These are some security best practices that industries can implement to prevent potential cyberattacks arising from IoT-connected devices.

(By Bijal Chudgar, Director – Quality Excellence and IoT Security at eInfochips)