Ensuring IoT Trustworthiness for the Digital Transformation: Focus on Reliability

In the industrial realm, the digital transformation means nothing less than turning traditional industrial systems into industrial internet systems. IoT Trustworthiness represents the degree of confidence that an IIoT system will operate in conformance with a set of requirements despite environmental disturbances, human error, system faults, or cyberattacks, not just during normal operation, but also during maintenance and downtime.

IoT Trustworthiness relies on five closely connected characteristics – safety, security, privacy, reliability, and resilience, as identified by ISO/IEC (JTC SC41), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). These characteristics manifest themselves in operational, organizational, commercial, budgetary, architectural, and security areas.

Software Trustworthiness is a key enabler for IoT Trustworthiness and serves as an indicator for system performance when faced with hazards and cyber-threats. With the convergence of OT and IT and the paradigm shift from dedicated devices for fixed functions to holistic machines whose functions are enabled remotely via software licensing, Software Trustworthiness has become paramount.

More than a conventional webinar, this virtual event offers a panel with two of the main voices leading the discussion on Software Trustworthiness and a special focus on Reliability – the ability of systems or their components to perform the required functions under a given set of conditions and over a given period of time. Without sufficient reliability, software failures will mean interrupted service, lost productivity, and potentially physical harm or lives lost.

Just recently, the IIC released a white paper entitled “Software Trustworthiness Best Practices”, which sums up all of the quality and protection aspects software should be infused with throughout its entire lifecycle, from architecture, design, and development to operation, maintenance, and decommissioning. It identifies transparency and traceability as key elements of good practices meant to help customers on their procurement journey.

During this conversation, our hosts will stress how confidence in software is reflected in the eventual reliability and resilience of the system and how reliability itself can be affected by poorly written code, such as improper memory management. They will also explore practical examples and revelatory use cases where reliability makes all the difference, architectures for reliable systems, and techniques that can be used to enhance the reliability of your systems.