IT security is essential when data is transferred from water systems to the cloud. In Municipal 4.0 research project, well-known experts in the industry are working together on this topic.
IT security is broadly discussed. In addition to the protection of personal data, the key issue is the risks involved in networking automated systems. Experts exchange information on Industry 4.0 and the IT security law at meetings and conferences and thus focus on these sensitive issues.
The use of control and automation systems with the Windows operating system seemed unthinkable until a few years ago. There were many, apparently justified, arguments against it. Today we are discussing the shift of IT services to the cloud. In the private sector, we have come to terms with this, but are cloud services an option for operational support of water and wastewater plants? Considerations on IT security were a premise for the selection of the MUNICIPAL 4.0 project in the technology competition “Smart Service Welt” of the BMWi.
The working group “WI-5.4 Cyber Security” of the “German Association for Water Management, Wastewater and Waste e. V.”(DWA), established in 2015, provides the project with current knowledge and experience from the wastewater industry. There are connections to the sector working group “Water/Wastewater” in the implementation plan KRITIS and contact to the “Federal Office for Information Security” (BSI). The DWA cooperates with the expert committees of the “Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches e. V.” (German Association of the Gas and Water Industry) and defines the requirement levels for IT security.
Especially the concepts and measures of BSI’s IT-Grundschutz are an elementary part of the security concept of KOMMUNAL 4.0 The ICS Compendium (“ICS Industrial Control Systems – Automatisierungssysteme”) of BSI, the guideline VDI/VDE 2182 “Information Security in Industrial Automation” and project results from national and international research also influence the work of the industry working group and the expert committees.
The focus on IT security is what makes the MUNICIPAL 4.0 project so innovative. This opens up opportunities for new solutions in control and automation technology in the water and wastewater industry.
Author: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Jumar,
ifak – Institute for Automation and Communication e. V., Magdeburg
Germany
HST Worldwide