Avoiding the internet of insecure industrial things

Urquhart, Lachlan; McAuley, Derek

Abstract

Security incidents such as targeted distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on power grids and hacking of factory industrial control systems (ICS) are on the increase. This paper unpacks where emerging security risks lie for the industrial internet of things, drawing on both technical and regulatory perspectives. Legal changes are being ushered by the European Union (EU) Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive 2016 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) (both to be enforced from May 2018). We use the case study of the emergent smart energy supply chain to frame, scope out and consolidate the breadth of security concerns at play, and the regulatory responses. We argue the industrial IoT brings four security concerns to the fore, namely: appreciating the shift from offline to online infrastructure; managing temporal dimensions of security; addressing the implementation gap for best practice; and engaging with infrastructural complexity. Our goal is to surface risks and foster dialogue to avoid the emergence of an Internet of Insecure Industrial Things.

Citation

Urquhart, L., & McAuley, D. (2018). Avoiding the internet of insecure industrial things. Computer Law and Security Review, 34(3), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2017.12.004

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 6, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jan 17, 2018
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2018
• Deposit Date: Dec 11, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2018
• Journal: Computer Law and Security Review
• Print ISSN: 0267-3649
• Electronic ISSN: 0267-3649
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2017.12.004
• Keywords: Industrial internet of things; cybersecurity; network and information security; data protection;; smart grids; industrial control systems; autonomous vehicles
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/944284
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364917303217