In an era where industrial operations are increasingly reliant on interconnected systems, cybersecurity has become a critical concern. The European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) aims to address these challenges head-on, ensuring robust protection for consumers and businesses using connected products and solutions.
What is the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)?
The Cyber Resilience Act, enacted by the European Parliament in March 2024, sets out to establish stringent cybersecurity standards and practices. Its primary goal is to ensure that all users can rely on the security of their connected devices and systems throughout their lifecycle.
For the industrial sector, which relies heavily on remote connectivity for monitoring, controlling, and managing operations, the CRA provides a comprehensive framework to safeguard critical infrastructure.
What are the main objectives of the Cyber Resilience Act?
The 5 major objectives of the CRA are as follows:
1. Enhance security: ensure digital products are secure from design to end-of-life, including supply chain security. Ewon solutions set the standard in the industrial connectivity market, and play an active role in ensuring the safety of their customers' facilities.
2. Increase accountability: hold manufacturers and developers accountable for non-compliance with security standards.
3. Ensure rapid response: mandate regular, mandatory updates to protect against emerging threats.
4. Improve transparency: facilitate the swift exchange of security information to protect users.
5. Boost EU competitiveness: establish clear security rules with accompanying certifications to make European digital products more secure and competitive globally.
Why is the Cyber Resilience Act important for industrial connectivity?
The CRA's impact on industrial connectivity is profound. Industries that depend on remote access for monitoring, controlling, and managing operations benefit from the CRA’s comprehensive cybersecurity framework.
Protecting critical infrastructures
Industrial facilities, including manufacturing plants, energy grids, and wastewater treatment systems, are crucial to society's functioning. The CRA aims to protect these critical infrastructures by implementing measures to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents. This ensures minimal downtime and maintains operational integrity.
Sharing cybersecurity information
The CRA further requires reporting incidents to relevant authorities, allowing for information sharing towards similar companies or sectors, putting them on “high alert”.
Mitigating cyberthreats
The industrial sector is increasingly the target of cybercriminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in remote connectivity systems. These threats range from ransomware attacks to state-sponsored cyberespionage. The CRA requires rigorous security practices and testing to mitigate risks and strengthen these industrial systems.
Ensuring compliance
Compliance with the CRA is not left to the goodwill of individual organizations. It is a rule that is binding on all, and sanctions are provided for those who fail to meet its requirements. Every industrial player is therefore obliged to ensure compliance with the standards to avoid financial and reputational damage, or even eviction from the European market.
How to enhance cyber resilience in industrial connectivity?
To comply with the CRA and enhance cyber resilience, industrial organizations should:
Implement strong authentication and access controls
Access management is crucial to risk prevention. Only authorized persons should be able to access remote access systems. In this respect, multi-factor authentication and rigorous access controls significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access. Encrypted remote connections provided by Ewon solutions also enhance the cybersecurity of industrial infrastructures and are included in the CRA requirements list.
Conduct regular security training and awareness programs
Human error is one of the main causes of cyber security incidents. Regular training and awareness programs provide employees with the knowledge and skills they need to identify and respond effectively to cyber threats.
Collaborate with cybersecurity experts
For an industrial player, establishing partnerships with cybersecurity specialists means always having up-to-date information on threats, and obtaining valuable advice on how to deal with them. Such collaborations also help organizations to make sense of the complex regulations governing the CRA.
That's why Ewon by HMS Networks collaborates with NVISO and Kiwa for instance.
Preparing for today's and tomorrow's cybersecurity challenges
The Cyber Resilience Act represents a pivotal step in addressing the major cybersecurity challenges in industrial remote connectivity. By enforcing rigorous security measures and best practices on a daily basis, the CRA aims to ensure the resilience of industrial operations against cyber threats.
As our world becomes more interconnected, with milestone of 500,000 connected Ewon devices worldwide, it’s crucial to implement measures that protect critical infrastructures. This will ensure the smooth and secure operation of industrial systems, safeguarding our technological future.