Suggested citation
Creese, S et al. (2020) Foresight review of cyber security for the industrial IoT: enabling safer more resilient infrastructures [online] Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Available at: https://www.lrfoundation.org.uk/en/publications
Executive summary
The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to benefit society through a range of smart platforms and has been undergoing huge expansion; estimates vary but it is in the order of tens of billions of devices and growing rapidly. The focus of this review is the Industrial IoT (IIoT). IoT-enabled industrial control systems (ICS) are becoming a significant proportion of current and future critical infrastructures, with high uptake in areas like energy, transport, the built environment and manufacturing facilities. The consequences of failure can be high in these environments and so it is essential to understand how to deliver secure and
resilient infrastructures. The IIoT exacerbates security challenges that already exist and poses new ones of its own. It is essential to prioritise action by identifying key emerging risks and gaps in capability. From a security standpoint, this review considers the IIoT to
be comprised of three key parts: physical devices (especially including sensors), communications networks, and information and data, including associated software and hardware technologies for delivering processing and analytics. Smart technologies facilitate new areas of innovation and new forms of control, enabling organisations to predict and manage the behaviours of their systems and environments. This review
identifies four key forces driving adoption of IIoT technologies:
- Improving operational processes for safety, productivity, monitoring, efficiency, adaptability, risk management or other outcomes.
- The green agenda: optimised energy efficiency, proof of energy consumption, etc, whether in support of internal priorities or for external compliance.
- Data markets: whether to monetise proprietary data on open markets, or to create or expand internal processes and services.
- Convenience and customer experience: providing data-based customisation and external windows into real-time status will become increasingly valuable.