The impact of cybersecurity on industrial processes. Understand the risks and how to mitigate the consequences

La ciberseguretat s'està convertint en un tema cada dia més important que les empreses no poden ignorar, sobretot perquè actualment la majoria d'atacs han evolucionat fins al punt de fer que l'antivirus i el tallafocs siguin insuficients per garantir la protecció de la pròpia organització, estimulant els responsables en la ciberseguretat a invertir. cada cop més per estar al dia amb les amenaces cada cop més complexes. S'ha arribat a un punt en què els atacants, donada la creixent dificultat per dur a terme ciberatacs a les xarxes informàtiques, han començat a plantejar-se la possibilitat d'orientar-se envers empreses manufactureres en els entorns on són més vulnerables, maquinària i xarxes industrials. Actualment aquestes han perdut la protecció per la segregació que tenien en els darrers anys, degut a la introducció massiva de l'IoT i als nous paradigmes de la indústria 4.0 que estan imposant l'obertura cap a sistemes externs com el núvol i una estreta integració amb els sistemes empresarials. Això és molt perillós perquè fins i tot s'ha exposat maquinària fràgil que podria perdre la disponibilitat fins i tot amb atacs simples o accions aparentment inofensives, basades en versions obsoletes de programari i sistemes operatius, que es comuniquen entre entre sí amb protocols de comunicació clars, sense autenticació, ni criptografia. Aquest projecte es posiciona en aquesta àrea i tracta de la seguretat d'una línia de panells de recent compra que s'ha d'inserir en una de les instal·lacions de producció de Fincantieri, respectant totes les polítiques de ciberseguretat corporativa, bones pràctiques, limitant l'augment al mínim de la superfície d'atac després de la seva inserció. Les activitats s'han centrat en l'anàlisi dels riscos potencials als quals podria estar exposat aquest sistema i la definició dels correctius. Tenint en compte l'entorn en el qual operem, no sempre és possible actuar sobre l'origen del problema i sovint s'han de trobar mesures alternatives.La ciberseguridad se está convirtiendo día a día en un tema cada vez más importante que las empresas no pueden ignorar, sobre todo porque hoy en día la mayoría de los ataques han evolucionado hasta el punto de hacer que los antivirus y firewall sean insuficientes para garantizar la protección de la propia organización, estimulando a los responsables en la ciberseguridad a invertir más y más para mantenerse al día con las amenazas cada vez más complejas. Se ha llegado a un punto en el que los atacantes, ante la creciente dificultad para realizar ciberataques en redes IT, han comenzado a apuntar las empresas manufactureras en los entornos donde son más vulnerables, maquinaria y redes industriales. Hoy en día estas redes han perdido la protección por la segregación que tenían en los últimos años, debido a la introducción masiva de IoT y los nuevos paradigmas de Industria 4.0 que están imponiendo la apertura hacia sistemas externos como la nube y una estrecha integración con los sistemas de negocios. Esto es muy peligroso porque incluso se ha expuesto maquinaria frágil que podría perder disponibilidad también con simples ataques o acciones aparentemente inofensivas, basadas en versiones obsoletas de software y sistemas operativos, que se comunican entre sí con protocolos de comunicación claros, sin autenticación ni criptografía. Este proyecto se posiciona en esta área y trata de la seguridad de una línea de paneles recientemente comprada que debe insertarse en uno de los sitios de producción de Fincantieri, respetando todas las políticas corporativas de ciberseguridad, las mejores prácticas, limitando al mínimo el aumento de la superficie de ataque para la empresa tras su inserción. Las actividades se centraron en el análisis de los riesgos a los que podría estar expuesto dicho sistema y la definición de remediación. Teniendo en cuenta el entorno en el que operamos, no siempre es posible actuar sobre el origen del problema y muchas veces se deben encontrar alternativas.Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important topic day after day that cannot be ignored anymore by companies, especially since nowadays most attacks have evolved to the point of making antivirus and firewalls insufficient to guarantee the protection of organizations, pushing who is deputed to cybersecurity to invest more and more to keep up with the increasingly complex threats. Security has reached a level that attackers, given the increasing difficulty in carrying out cyber-attacks in IT networks, have begun to consider the possibility of targeting manufacturing companies in environments where they are most vulnerable: industrial systems and networks. Nowadays these networks have lost the protection due to segregation they had in the past years because of the massive introduction of IoT and the new paradigms of Industry 4.0 that are imposing the opening towards external systems such as the cloud and a tight integration with the corporate systems. This is very dangerous because even fragile machinery that could lose availability even with simple attacks or apparently harmless actions has been exposed. These assets are often based on obsolete versions of software and operating systems that communicate each other with clear text communication protocols, without any authentication or cryptography. This project is positioned in this area and deals with securing a recently purchased panel line that has been inserted in one of Fincantieri's production sites, respecting all corporate cybersecurity policies, best practices, limiting the increase of the attack surface due to its insertion in the company to the minimum. The activities focused on the analysis of the potential risks to which this system could be exposed and the definition of remediation. Considering the environment in which it has been operated, it is not always possible to act on the source of the problem and alternative measures must often be found that limit the criticalities highlighted

Geostatistics as a tool to improve the natural background level definition: An application in groundwater

The Natural Background Level (NBL), suggested by UE BRIDGE project, is suited for spatially distributed datasets providing a regional value that could be higher than the Threshold Value (TV) set by every country. In hydrogeochemically dis-homogeneous areas, the use of a unique regional NBL, higher than TV, could arise problems to distinguish between natural occurrences and anthropogenic contaminant sources. Hence, the goal of this study is to improve the NBL definition employing a geostatistical approach, which reconstructs the contaminant spatial structure accounting geochemical and hydrogeological relationships. This integrated mapping is fundamental to evaluate the contaminant's distribution impact on the NBL, giving indications to improve it. We decided to test this method on the Drainage Basin of Venice Lagoon (DBVL, NE Italy), where the existing NBL is seven times higher than the TV. This area is notoriously affected by naturally occurring arsenic contamination. An available geochemical dataset collected by 50 piezometers was used to reconstruct the spatial distribution of arsenic in the densely populated area of the DBVL. A cokriging approachwas applied exploiting the geochemical relationships among As, Fe andNH4+. The obtained spatial predictions of arsenic concentrationswere divided into three different zones: i) areas with an As concentration lower than the TV, ii) areas with an As concentration between the TV and the median of the values higher than the TV, and iii) areas with an As concentration higher than the median. Following the BRIDGE suggestions, where enough samples were available, the 90th percentile for each zone was calculated to obtain a local NBL (LNBL). Differently from the original NBL, this local value gives more detailed water quality information accounting the hydrogeological and geochemical setting, and contaminant spatial variation. Hence, the LNBL could give more indications about the distinction between natural occurrence and anthropogenic contamination

Reabilitação em pacientes parcialmente desdentados

Existe uma grande variedade de reabilitações orais para pacientes parcialmente desdentados, a escolha da mais adequada vai depender de vários factores como, dentes presentes, fonética e estética, função biomecânica-mastigatória, equilíbrio de cargas e custos. Para a reabilitação de pacientes parcialmente edêntulos sem o uso de implantes, a prótese fixa em conjunto com a prótese removível é muitas vezes uma solução. Nesses casos, é preciso utilizar conexões ou attachments para apoio à prótese removível. É um trabalho que exige um estudo aprofundado do caso, determinar o tipo de trabalho e os materiais mais adequados para o paciente. É igualmente importante compreender o tipo de paciente que enfrentamos e a suas expectativa

Understanding the interaction between cyclists and automated vehicles: Results from a cycling simulator study

Cycling as an active mode of transport is increasing across all Europe [1]. Multiple benefits are coming from cycling both for the single user and the society as a whole. With increasing cycling, we expect more conflicts to happen between cyclists and vehicles, as it is also shown by the increasing cyclists' share of fatalities, contrary to the passenger cars' share [2]. Understanding cyclists' behavioral patterns can help automated vehicles (AVs) to predict cyclist's behavior, and then behave safely and comfortably when they encounter them. As a result, developing reliable predictive models of cyclist behavior will help AVs to interact safely with cyclists

How do cyclists interact with motorized vehicles at unsignalized intersections? Modeling cyclists’ yielding behavior using naturalistic data

When a cyclist\u27s path intersects with that of a motorized vehicle at an unsignalized intersection, serious conflicts may happen. In recent years, the number of cyclist fatalities in this conflict scenario has held steady, while the number in many other traffic scenarios has been decreasing. There is, therefore, a need to further study this conflict scenario in order to make it safer. With the advent of automated vehicles, threat assessment algorithms able to predict cyclists’ (other road users’) behavior will be increasingly important to ensure safety. To date, the handful of studies that have modeled the vehicle-cyclist interaction at unsignalized intersections have used kinematics (speed and location) alone without using cyclists’ behavioral cues, such as pedaling or gesturing. As a result, we do not know whether non-verbal communication (e.g., from behavioral cues) could improve model predictions. In this paper, we propose a quantitative model based on naturalistic data, which uses additional non-verbal information to predict cyclists’ crossing intentions at unsignalized intersections. Interaction events were extracted from a trajectory dataset and enriched by adding cyclists’ behavioral cues obtained from sensors. Both kinematics and cyclists’ behavioral cues (e.g., pedaling and head movement), were found to be statistically significant for predicting the cyclist\u27s yielding behavior. This research shows that adding information about the cyclists’ behavioral cues to the threat assessment algorithms of active safety systems and automated vehicles will improve safety

Conceptual and numerical models of a tectonically-controlled geothermal system: a case study of the Euganean Geothermal System, Northern Italy

The Euganean Geothermal Field (EGF) is the most important thermal field in northern Italy. It is located in the alluvial plain of the Veneto Region where approximately 17*106 m3 of thermal water with temperatures of 60–86 °C are exploited annually. A regional-scale conceptual model of the Euganean Geothermal System is proposed in this paper using the available hydrogeologic, geochemical and structural data for both the EGF and central Veneto. The thermal water is of meteoric origin and infiltrates approximately 80 km to the north of the EGF in the Veneto Prealps. The water flows to the south in a Mesozoic limestone and dolomite reservoir reaching a depth of approximately 3,000 m and a temperature of approximately 100 °C due to the normal geothermal gradient. The regional Schio-Vicenza fault system and its highly permeable damage zone act as a preferential path for fluid migration in the subsurface. In the EGF area, a geologic structure formed by the interaction of different segments of the fault system increases the local fracturing and the permeability favoring the upwelling of the thermal waters. Numerical simulations are performed to validate the proposed conceptual model using a finite difference code that simulates thermal energy transport in hydrothermal systems. A specific configuration of thermal conductivity and permeability for the formations involved in the thermal system is obtained after calibration of these parameters. This set of parameters is verified in a long-term simulation (55,100 years) obtaining a 60–70 °C plume in the EGF area. The modeled temperatures approach the measured temperatures of 60–86 °C, demonstrating that this conceptual model can be realistically simulated

Oxygen transfer in a gas-liquid system : kinetic influence of water salinity

Oxygen gas is widely used as oxidant in a variety of industrial processes, such as hydrometallurgy, biochemical industry, organic syntheses, and wastewater treatment [1]. However, the gas–liquid mass transfer of oxygen usually becomes a bottleneck of the whole process due to its sparing solubility in aqueous solutions. It is therefore a research subject to enhance oxygen mass transfer. This study is dedicated to an accurate evaluation of thermodynamic and kinetics aspects in the water oxygenation process. Oxygenation can be analyzed by means of kinetic study of oxygen dissolution from the oxygen mass transfer coefficient (KLa) and oxygen transfer rate (SOTR) [2]. A stirred, submerged aerated 4-liters system have been designed and the operational conditions has been optimized by studying the influence of hydraulic head, air flow and salinity of water using an optical oxygen sensor. Concerning the thermodynamic phase equilibria, experimental and modelling results are obtained from different binary systems (water/air) and ternary systems (water/air/salts). This information is necessary to predict the composition of the gas phase during the process and it is also important for an implementation in a process simulation. The oxygen mass transfer coefficients were firstly measured, monitoring in the time the oxygen concentration in various synthetic liquid phases containing either salts (NaCl, KCl, LiCl and MgCl). When compared to clean water, noticeable increase of KLa were observed; the variation of KLa and SOTR with the solution salinity was modelled and found dependent on the nature of cation in the salt added. For all cases, an increase of KLa with salinity increasing was observed. The present study clearly confirmed the importance to define the experimental conditions before to describe and to model appropriately the gas–liquid mass transfer phenomena

TAMTAMS: a flexible and open tool for UDSM process-to-system design space exploration

Ultra Deep Sub-Micron (UDSM) processes, as well as beyond CMOS technology choices, influence circuits performance with a chain of consequences through devices, circuits and systems that are difficult to predict. Nonetheless effective design-space exploration enables process optimization and early design organization. We introduce TAMTAMS, a tool based on an open, flexible and simple structure, which allows to predict system level features starting from technology variables. It is modular and based on a clear dependency tree of modules, each related to a model of specific quantities (e.g. device currents, circuit delay, interconnects noise, ....) presented in literature. Models can be compared and sensitivity to parameters observed. We believe our contribution gives a fresh point of view on process-to-system predictors. Though still in development, it already shows flexibility and allows a traceable path of a technology parameter on its way to the system level