The research project "SecuRIn – Security Reference Model Industry 4.0" launched at Ostfalia in 2016. Four of our professors, from the fields of computer science, social work and electrical engineering, will work for a total of five years, together with companies and institutions from the region, on the subject of IT security and data protection in Industry 4.0.

Challenges in Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0, or more generally the trend towards digitalisation, is characterised by the fact that products are being networked intelligently, as well as with people, machines and processes. They communicate with each other – exchange information and coordinate so that production processes and workflows are flexible and can be automatically optimised. Digitisation also offers SMEs the opportunity for significant innovations. The question is: how can innovative solutions in Industry 4.0 be structured safely? "Herein lies the challenge", explained Prof Dr Ina Schiering, spokesperson for the main research. "Businesses aren't venturing the step towards Industry 4.0 because they lack confidence in the security of the systems and because data cannot be sufficiently protected."

In SecuRIn, the professors are therefore working on creating process models with which business can safely develop applications in the scope of Industry 4.0 in the future, and operate them securely too.

Data protection for e-health applications
The importance of IT security and data protection is made clear in a SecuRIn sub-project: Prof Dr Sandra Verena Müller, from the Faculty of Social Work, is developing – in collaboration with Prof Dr Ina Schiering from Faculty of Computer Science/IT – mobile applications for smart devices such as smartphones or smartwatches in the area of e-health, therefore working with sensitive, personal data which must be protected. Specifically, the project is about supporting people who, due to a disease or an accident, are no longer cognitively in a position to independently structure their everyday life. "This can mean, for example, that those affected cannot remember their plans for the day, such as appointments or tasks," said Prof Müller. The e-health application can assist in the form of planning and reminder functions, without any other people gaining access to this information. Prof Müller explained: "The use of smartphones or smartwatches is so commonplace that one cannot tell whether a person is just checking the time, or if a person is being told by the e-health app which task to do next."

IT security in the life cycle of the product
With the e-health applications, data protection is in the foreground with regard to the use of the product. A further three sub-projects, on the other hand, deal with IT security in the development and manufacture of products – thus SecuRIn is investigating the IT security for the entire life cycle of a product.  The IT systems need to be secure and reliable at every stage of the life cycle, so that industrial espionage, monitoring, manipulation and sabotage or system faults can be prevented. In this context, Prof Dr Ina Schiering is focussing on the topic of "Security in dynamic workflows in Industry 4.0", Prof Dr Diederich Wermser on "Software defined networking for Industry 4.0" and Prof Dr Gert Bikker on "Security in automotive networks".

Please contact Prof. Dr. Ina Schiering for more information.

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