The concept of a research project was created by VLAIO to support the development of advanced technologies and innovative initiatives within the fourth industrial revolution in Flanders. These research projects have as main goal to inform and create awareness as many companies as possible about new advancements in technology. In 2019, the Flemish government invested more than 4 million euros in a second call for projects around industry 4.0, including this ICI4.0 project. More info info: www.industrie40vlaanderen.be
Research project: Innovative cyber security for industry 4.0
Our research project : Innovative cyber security for industry 4.0, with HoWest and UGent as main partners, will persue three main objectives, in collaboration with Living Tomorrow vzw and cyber security Coalition vzw:
- Translating the existing regulations regarding industrial networks and information systems, in particular the NIS directive, into concrete an practical action points tailored to Belgian companies. The focus is not only on the technical aspect, but also on the complete security policy.
- Evaluate and demonstrate the technical security measures on our demonstrator. The proposed lab set-up will simulate a factory network, equipped with industrial hardware (from various market leaders in Belgium). This network contains all control logic and interfacing that are present on a real factory (PLCs, remote IO, HMI, Actuators & sensors, SCADA software,…) A wide range of traditional (IT) and industrial (OT) specific security devices (VPN, Firewall, Network Tap, etc.) are available and can be added modularly to this setup. It allows us to remain flexible and to demonstrate the dangers of a network without paying attention to security as well as to demonstrate the performance and robustness of an optimal solution.
- Research the use of innovative network monitoring technologies within industrial networks. Detecting threats is at the basis of every security policy and should therefore certainly not be underestimated. Where traditional detection system use fixed rules, innovative systems offer the possibility of using machine learning( including RNN, encoder-decoder, tree based and kernel-based online learning methods) to detect any deviating and potentially dangerous behavior and reporting.
To guarantee the optimal distribution of project results, we provide three different types of activities that each focuses on a specific target group.
- General information sessions about the security implications for the industrial sector. These are typical sessions of a few hours where the widest possible group is made aware of the possibilities and dangers in an easily accessible way.
- Technical workshops spread over several days, will ensure the knowledge transfer. These workshops will deal with both the architecture and the implementation of the practical guidelines.
- One-on-one collaborations with companies to evaluate their specific use-cases and use as proof-of-concept implementation of our research project.
Presentations kick-off Event 2 April 2019
- Kurt Callewaert, Johannes Cottyn – Introduction
- Anneleen Dammekens – NIS guidelines
- Darktrace – Network Monitoring
- Tijl Deneut – Industrial Security
- Hendrik Derre, Tinus Umans – Roadmap for our research project
