Ayesa is driving collaborative efforts to counter cyberattacks in industry 4.0

Ayesa, in collaboration with ITS, will lead the NCIS (Collaborative Neutralisation of Cyber Attacks on Industrial Systems) project, aimed at developing a collaborative digital platform for companies in the industrial sector. This platform will facilitate the deployment of cyber defense mechanisms in industrial ecosystems by sharing data and procedures for prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation.

The ultimate goal of this initiative is to drive collaborative neutralization of cyberattacks in industrial systems while preserving the privacy and data of each participating organization.

This R&D NCIS project is supported by the CDTI’s Science and Innovation Mission Program with a 4.4 million euros budget. The participating consortium also includes the following companies: Fagor Automation, S2 Grupo, Savvy, Jakincode, Tecnalia, and Ikerlan.

NCIS will engage in cutting-edge research in various technological domains, including Blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence. These research efforts will focus on developing traffic and anomaly detection mechanisms, as well as implementing Self-Sovereign Identity for the Industrial Internet of Things. These innovations will address two critical aspects: ensuring data confidentiality and facilitating the sharing of security strategies in newly interconnected industrial environments. Ultimately, these advancements will contribute to the comprehensive development of a secure, sustainable, and interconnected industry 4.0.

The project aims to define a collaborative common environment that establishes requirements for data privacy, confidentiality, and reliability, thus contributing to the development of new services based on information exchange and exploitation. Additionally, it will propose a reference framework for collaboration in four fundamental functions of any cybersecurity management system in industrial ecosystems: prevention, detection, response, and recovery.

According to the project leaders: “in the context of digital transformation of the industry, the implementation of large secure industrial common data spaces will help boost business innovation for advanced data-driven digitalization.”
However, they add, “companies still face difficulties in sharing data easily and reliably with others while maintaining control, resulting in missed business opportunities and inefficiencies that limit or increase the implementation costs of advanced digital processes and services. This is where NCIS will prove beneficial.”
At present, “data collection and management are predominantly handled by end customers of the production lines. As a result, they exclusively own the data, limiting advanced analytics projects to them exclusively. However, with the advent of NCIS, it is hoped that this paradigm will shift, allowing for broader access and collaboration in advanced analytics initiatives.”

The NCIS R&D project to prevent Cyber Attacks on Industrial Systems brings several benefits, including enhanced cybersecurity through collaborative defense, improved detection and response capabilities, cost efficiency through resource pooling, knowledge sharing and innovation, privacy preservation, support for Industry 4.0 goals, and strengthened resilience against cyber threats.

By fostering collaboration, NCIS empowers organizations to collectively neutralize cyber attacks, ensuring the security and continuity of industrial systems.