Stepping up cybersecurity on IIoT

Powered by wireless 5G connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI), the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) has the ability to analyse critical problems and provide solutions that can improve the operational performance of industries ranging from manufacturing to health care.

While IIoT does have many advantages, it also comes with its share of vulnerabilities such as security threats. Now, a team of multinational researchers led by Prof Gwanggil Jeon from Incheon National University in South Korea has taken a deep dive into the world of 5G-enabled IIoT to explore its threats and come up with a novel solution to the problem.

In a recent review published online on 9 September 2022 in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, the team presented an AI- and deep learning-based malware detection system for 5G-assisted IIoT systems. Jeon explained the rationale behind the study: “Security threats can often lead to operation or deployment failure in IIoT systems, which can create high-risk situations. So, we decided to investigate and compare available research, find out the gaps, and propose a new design for a security system that can not only detect malware attacks in IIoT systems, but also classify them.”

The system developed by the team uses a method called grayscale image visualisation with a deep learning network for analysing the malware, and further applies a multi-level convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to categorise the malware attack into different types. The team also integrated this security system with 5G, which allows for low latency and high throughput sharing of real-time data and diagnostics.

Compared to conventional system architectures, the new design showed an improved accuracy that reached 97% on the benchmark dataset. The researchers also discovered that the reason behind such high accuracy is the system’s ability to extract complementary discriminative features by combining multiple layers of information.

The new malware classification system can be used to secure real-time connectivity applications such as smart cities and autonomous vehicles. It also provides solid groundwork for the development of advanced security systems that can curb a wide range of cybercrime activities. “AI-based technology has dramatically changed our lives. Our system harnesses the power of AI to enable industries to recognise miscreants and prevent the entry of unreliable devices and systems in their IIoT networks,” Jeon concluded.

Image credit: iStock.com/sefa ozel