Recent Advances and Future Challenges in Industrial Cybersecurity

Dear Colleagues,

The advent of Industry 4.0, supported by innovative technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things, Big Data, Cloud technology, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality, poses several important challenges for a very broad range of vertical industries, such as agriculture, the manufacturing industry, transportation, and smart cities. However, despite this success, some open issues remain. Amongst them, the main issue that may slow down the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies is related to security. The heterogeneity in terms of protocols, operating systems, and devices combined with poor adoption of standard solutions create an insecure design, architectures, and deployments. Furthermore, industrial applications are often associated with sensitive data and critical infrastructures, making them attractive in terms of vulnerability, data breach, and denial of services.

Due to the proliferation and sophistication of cyber threats targeting industrial control systems with significant negative effects, industrial cyber security has become an agenda item for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. New solutions and proposals which overcome the limitations of conventional security approaches are essential to handle industrial cyber security effectively.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together researchers and practitioners from diverse fields of science and engineering working on achieving efficiency and security in industrial systems. We invite authors to submit original research articles related to recent advances and related technologies. We are particularly interested in presenting emerging technologies related to autonomic solutions capable of guaranteeing the overall reliability, efficiency, and security of industrial systems, even when the components or subsystems are not fully reliable and unforeseen conditions emerge during the course of operation.

Prof. Felix J. Garcia Clemente
Guest Editor

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