Identifying and Predicting Cybersecurity Threats in Industry 4.0 Based on the Motivations Towards a Critical Infrastructure

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is an emerging concept describing the business setting application of a broad set of digitalisation technologies, connectivity, and automation. The most common critical infrastructure (CI) uses Industrial Control Systems (ICS) for operation and supervisory control. However, the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Internet of things (IoT) systems are examples of ICSs applications. These systems, like any other systems exposed to many security risks and are vulnerable to many threats. This is mainly due to the lack of objective standards and proactive security countermeasures that companies unintentionally neglected in the early stages of designing these systems. It is also due to the absence of managerial and technical skills necessary to implement them. Therefore, identifying and preventing potential security threats against CIs is the focus of this paper. A novel security approach concept that can predict cybersecurity threats based on the CI nature and take into consideration the attack motivations accordingly has been delivered in this paper. The proposed concept of this approach will also facilitate the detection of potential attack types and the required countermeasures in particular infrastructures.

Towards a sustainable future: developing a cybersecurity framework for manufacturing

“…, 2019). This includes hardware such as tools, phones and other devices; people working within the organization; physical assets such as buildings and factories; and IT infrastructure, which involves applications, networks, processes and data (Alqudhaibi et al. , 2022).…”

“…, 2022). The manufacturing industry is hesitant to invest in Industry 4.0 technologies due to the uncertainty surrounding digital improvement caused by cyber threats (Alqudhaibi et al. , 2022).…”

“…Cyberattacks have increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war due to vulnerabilities in the system (Jagtap et al, 2022). The manufacturing industry is hesitant to invest in Industry 4.0 technologies due to the uncertainty surrounding digital improvement caused by cyber threats (Alqudhaibi et al, 2022). To address this issue, security objectives, countermeasures, standards and protocols have been established, and cybersecurity teams assess all cybersecurity risks (Cormier and Ng, 2020).…”

Industry 4.0 deployment for circular economy performance—Understanding the role of green procurement and remanufacturing activities

“…In fact, even for organizations that have actually chosen to implement I4.0, there are still significant operational hurdles to overcome (Alkaraan et al, 2023;Malik et al, 2022). For instance, from a technological standpoint, concerns like cyber-physical systems and data ownership have emerged as a result of increased connectivity and cloud computing technologies (Alqudhaibi et al, 2022;Kumar & Mallipeddi, 2022).…”

“…In fact, even for organizations that have actually chosen to implement I4.0, there are still significant operational hurdles to overcome (Alkaraan et al, 2023; Malik et al, 2022). For instance, from a technological standpoint, concerns like cyber‐physical systems and data ownership have emerged as a result of increased connectivity and cloud computing technologies (Alqudhaibi et al, 2022; Kumar & Mallipeddi, 2022). Thus, organizations must select functional solutions that fit in with how they already operate, learn about the advantages of these technologies, and build the systems necessary to effectively adopt them (Alkaraan et al, 2023; Simonetto et al, 2022).…”