Cybersecurity – The Downside of Digitalization

Some may see digitisation as the next industrial revolution, bringing new opportunities, but also new dangers. However, digitisation is already with us. Programmable connected devices with interfaces to the physical world provide a basis for a more flexible and efficient control of processes in many application domains. Programmable connected devices can have remote effects and can be remotely adjusted and updated. By the same means, remote adversaries may send specially crafted inputs to programmable connected devices to control processes according to their own objectives. Cyber security, another fashionable term that may be little more than a new name for established concepts, deals with the flipside of digitisation. How can one defend against attacks facilitated by digitisation? This talk will look at the armouries of attackers and defenders and discuss what needs to be done to stay in control of digitised processes.