Robotic machinery that is being used in industries to assemble airplanes and smart phones are vulnerable to cyber attacks say security experts from Trend Micro Inc. And the researchers argue that most of such machinery is susceptible to hacking activities like data steal and remotely altering the movement of robots.
Trend Micro’s report titled “Robot Automation” says that industrial environments having robotic machinery are exposed to serious consequences like machinery failure, physical damage to operators and sometimes injuries and life loss to them.
Technically, robots run with the help of systems driven by operating systems and some vulnerability in them could make cyber criminals to induce malicious codes into them and program them remotely to run as per their likes.
For instance, they found App based software produced by ABB LTD from Switzerland to be exhibiting certain flaws that when explored by hackers could bring operational troubles to industrial firms- especially those related to automobile sector. Security researchers say that the flaw had the tendency to exfiltrate data from robotic controller that includes sensitive information.
Citing other instance, researchers from Trend Micro have also found vulnerabilities in one of the most popular open source operating system software called Robot Operating System Industrial- ROS-I- larger adopted by companies like Kuka AG and ABB- companies that supply robots to assemble cars and their parts.
In February this year, ABB addressed the vulnerabilities in the app software on a wholesome note. And the ROS Consortium addressed the flaws of ROS-I in association with US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA in June this year.
A set of this report will be divulged at the Black Hat forum to be held on Wednesday this week on a virtual note, and more precise details over it can be availed later.
