New Sub Group to Develop Guidance Documents and a TPM Profile for Security of Industrial Equipment

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 27, 2017 – Members of Trusted Computing Group (@TrustedComputin) today announced new efforts to provide foundational security for industrial systems in increasingly connected factories and other industrial environments facing growing security threats.

“The connection of manufacturing, critical infrastructure and other industries to the Internet brings many benefits, but the associated potential for ransomware and malicious attacks presents major risks that can cause chaos for businesses and their customers and partners,” said TCG Embedded Systems Work Group and Industrial Sub Group Chair Steve Hanna, Infineon Technologies. “TCG members offer deep experience in embedded security that can be applied to industrial security, whether connected or not, to protect the systems, data, and networks that we all rely on daily.”

The Industrial Sub Group will develop guidance for securing industrial equipment and a profile for using TPM 2.0 in industrial equipment. TCG members have contributed to the development of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) Internet Security Framework, which recommends using the TPM to secure endpoints.

Noted Monty Wiseman of GE and various TCG work groups, “Security has become the leading consideration for industrial networks connected to the wide variety of things. The work TCG has done around trust and security in for non-industrial systems such as PC and servers has direct application to the industrial market, and we can provide specific guidance, specifications, and how-to.”

“TCG is playing a significant role in bridging the gap between specification and application of embedded security best practices specifically for Industrial,” said Chetan Khona, industrial IoT strategy and business manager at Xilinx.  “This is a critical step in the mainstream adoption of robust security for these systems.”

The TPM also is noted as a hardware security approach to protect authenticators, such as cryptographic keys, in IEC/ISA 62443. The Industrial Sub Group will be looking at further development and engagement in this standards effort as part of its scope.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3 at the IoT Solutions World Congress, TCG members GE, Infineon, Microsoft, OnBoard Security and Wibu-Systems will host a session about the group’s efforts to secure industrial equipment.

About TCG

TCG (@TrustedComputin) is a not-for-profit organization formed to develop, define and promote open, vendor-neutral, global industry standards, supportive of a hardware-based root of trust, for interoperable trusted computing platforms. More information about TCG is available at www.trustedcomputinggroup.org. Follow TCG on Twitter and on LinkedIn. To join the effort to secure industrial systems, go to https://trustedcomputinggroup.org/membership.