Mitigating Insider Threat Risks in Cyber-physical Manufacturing Systems

Cyber-Physical Manufacturing System (CPMS)—a next generation manufacturing system—seamlessly integrates digital and physical domains via the internet or computer networks. It will enable drastic improvements in production flexibility, capacity, and cost-efficiency. However, enlarged connectivity and accessibility from the integration can yield unintended security concerns. The major concern arises from cyber-physical attacks, which can cause damages to the physical domain while attacks originate in the digital domain. Especially, such attacks can be performed by insiders easily but in a more critical manner: Insider Threats. Insiders can be defined as anyone who is or has been affiliated with a system. Insiders have knowledge and access authentications of the system\u27s properties, therefore, can perform more serious attacks than outsiders. Furthermore, it is hard to detect or prevent insider threats in CPMS in a timely manner, since they can easily bypass or incapacitate general defensive mechanisms of the system by exploiting their physical access, security clearance, and knowledge of the system vulnerabilities. This thesis seeks to address the above issues by developing an insider threat tolerant CPMS, enhanced by a service-oriented blockchain augmentation and conducting experiments & analysis. The aim of the research is to identify insider threat vulnerabilities and improve the security of CPMS. Blockchain\u27s unique distributed system approach is adopted to mitigate the insider threat risks in CPMS. However, the blockchain limits the system performance due to the arbitrary block generation time and block occurrence frequency. The service-oriented blockchain augmentation is providing physical and digital entities with the blockchain communication protocol through a service layer. In this way, multiple entities are integrated by the service layer, which enables the services with less arbitrary delays while retaining their strong security from the blockchain. Also, multiple independent service applications in the service layer can ensure the flexibility and productivity of the CPMS. To study the effectiveness of the blockchain augmentation against insider threats, two example models of the proposed system have been developed: Layer Image Auditing System (LIAS) and Secure Programmable Logic Controller (SPLC). Also, four case studies are designed and presented based on the two models and evaluated by an Insider Attack Scenario Assessment Framework. The framework investigates the system\u27s security vulnerabilities and practically evaluates the insider attack scenarios. The research contributes to the understanding of insider threats and blockchain implementations in CPMS by addressing key issues that have been identified in the literature. The issues are addressed by EBIS (Establish, Build, Identify, Simulation) validation process with numerical experiments and the results, which are in turn used towards mitigating insider threat risks in CPMS

Economies of collaboration in build-to-model operations

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The direct-from-model and tool-less manufacturing process of 3D printing (3DP) embodies a general-purpose technology, facilitating capacity sharing and outsourcing. Starting from a case study of a 3DP company (Shapeways) and a new market entrant (Panalpina), we develop dynamic practices for partial outsourcing in build-to-model manufacturing. We propose a new outsourcing scheme, bidirectional partial outsourcing (BPO), where 3D printers share capacity by alternating between the role of outsourcer and subcontractor based on need. Coupled with order book smoothing (OBS), where orders are released gradually to production, this provides 3D printers with two distinct ways to manage demand variability. By combining demand and cost field data with an analytical model, we find that BPO improves 3DP cost efficiency and delivery performance as the number of 3DP firms in the network increases. OBS is sufficient for an established 3D printer when alternatives to in-house manufacturing are few, or of limited capacity. Nevertheless, OBS comes at the cost of reduced responsiveness, whereas BPO shifts the cost and delivery performance frontier. Our analysis shows how BPO combined with OBS makes 3DP companies more resilient to downward movements in both demand and price levels.Innovate UKEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

The influence of business model on the development of 3D food printing technology for dysphagia patients in elderly care

Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, affects 10–30 % of persons above 65 years old. Texture-modified, easy-to-swallow, puree-like food in the form of timbales is usually served to this group of patients. Due to the characteristics of timbale, its appearance only remotely reminds of the original ingredients, leading to reduced appetite, reduced nutrition intake, and even malnutrition. 3D food printing of timbales can potentially preserve dysphagia patients’ quality of life and prevent undernourishment by producing more realistic and aesthetically pleasing food. 3D food printing of timbales is however challenging: creation and industrialization of food formulations adapted to the 3D food printing process; speed, hygiene, and reliability of the 3D food printers, etc. In a research project in the context of Swedish elderly care, both technological and economical aspects were investigated. This paper uncovers that the business model dominating the 3D food printing industry is not suitable for this particular market segment. This paper presents several business model alternatives and shows that the choice of the business model will influence and guide the further technological development of timbale printing. The paper also outlines to which extent these findings can be applied to other countries and to similar markets where AM has not taken off or has not been widely adopted

Ersatzes of Fetal Bovine Serum: a survey of current options in cell culture: Example of the Regenerative Therapy Unit/CPR/CHUV

Cell culture began in the 19th-century when a physiologist, Sydney Ringer, developed a solution capable of maintaining a beating frog heart outside of the body. He was able to maintain the tissue under living conditions by submerging in an isotonic salt solution composed of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. (1) A buffering system, usually phenol red, was also added to the culture media in order to monitor a pH at physiological ranges. In the years 1907 to 1910, specific methodology for cell culture was established by Ross Granville Harrison. He was the first to be able to observe neural growth. In his experimentation, he placed fragments of embryonic tissues from frog medullary cords on cover slips of glass slides and sealed them with clotted lymph. He indeed generated the first moist chamber. (2) Apart from the nutrition, animal cells also need specific culture conditions; they are kept in incubators in a controlled humidified gas mixture of 5% CO2 and 95% O2 under a physiological temperature of 37° C. The CO2 is essential to maintain the pH of media because without CO2 the medium becomes alkaline and compromises cellular survival and proliferation. Cell culture techniques made significant advances in the 1940s and 1950s to support research in virology. As viruses require the components of infected cells to reproduce themselves, large scale manufacturing of viral material in safe conditions necessitates co-culture with animal cells. For instance, the vaccine for Polio was produced with the aide of co-cultured fetal cells. Harry Eagle, an American pathologist, defined the minimal requirement in 1955 for the Hela cell line (isolated from a human uterus Carcinoma at Johns Hopkins Hospital) and mouse fibroblasts, laying down the fundamental principles of mammalian culture. Eagle proved that 27 elements were essential for the growth of mammalian culture, and his medium Eagle's minimal essential medium (Eagle's MEM) contains various amino acids, glucose, vitamins, isotonic salt solutions and an whole animal or human serum. (3) All of the elements were defined as the base medium without the serum component. Dulbecco formulated a modified version of the Eagle's MEM, Dulbecco's MEM (DMEM) around the same time period, with 4 times more vitamins as reported in Table 1. Historically cell culture has been done with the addition of serum to the culture medium to mimic the physiological condition of the body. The source of the serums can differ; it can be human serum, horse serum or cattle serum among the most common. Serum provides the cells with nutrients, attachment factors, growth factors and hormones, binding and transport proteins, spreading factors, fatty acids, lipids and protease-inhibitors. All of these factors are essential for proliferation and differentiation of cells in culture systems

Textiles and Clothing Manufacturing: Vision for 2025 and Actions Needed

This project is set in the context of the European industrial policy objective declared in 2010 to bring the share of industry in EU GDP from 15 to 20 per cent by 2020. It applies the Industrial Landscape Vision 2025 (ILV2025), a forward looking tool developed in a previous JRC foresight study and endorsed by DG GROW and its Task Force on advanced manufacturing. This tool provides a generic model of industry in Europe 10 years from now. The main objective of the project is to understand the long-term needs and challenges faced by European industry, to develop a vision for identifying key opportunities and challenges, and to develop potential responses by industry actors and policy makers.JRC.I.2-Foresight, Behavioural Insights and Design for Polic

Decentralised manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products: learning from other healthcare sectors

Decentralised or 'redistributed' manufacturing represents an attractive choice for production of some cell and gene therapies (CGTs), in particular personalised therapies. Decentralised manufacturing splits production into various locations or regions and in doing so, imposes organisational changes on the structure of a company. This confers a significant advantage by democratising supply, creating jobs without geographical restriction to the central hub and allowing a more flexible response to external pressures and demands. This comes with challenges that need to be addressed including, a reduction in oversight, decision making and control by central management which can be critical in maintaining quality in healthcare product manufacturing. The unwitting adoption of poor business strategies at an early stage in development has the potential to undermine the market success of otherwise promising products. To maximise the probability of realising the benefits that decentralised manufacturing of CGTs has to offer, it is important to examine alternative operational paradigms to learn from their successes and to avoid their failures. Whilst no other situation is quite the same as CGTs, some illustrative examples of established manufacturing paradigms are described. Each of these shares a unique attribute with CGTs which aids understanding of how decentralised manufacturing might be implemented for CGTs in a similar manner. In this paper we present a collection of paradigms that can be drawn on in formulating a roadmap to success for decentralised production of CGTs