Seeing Double With Digital Twin Security Issues

The benefits of digital twins, defined by Gartner as “…a digital representation of a real-world entity or system,” are tremendous, especially when paired with augmented reality or virtual reality innovations For example, in manufacturing, new hires could explore digital twins to understand how they work and how they connect to other technologies without posing a risk to the physical systems themselves.

With the increased availability of private 5G networks expected to accelerate the adoption of digital twins, we can expect increased reliance on the technology in 2023 and beyond Digital Twin Security Issues As businesses plan to increase their use of digital twins, it is important that the security of these systems be given equal priority.

After all, while being a virtual model of a physical technology, digital twins often include connections and back-path communications with the real environment And because the digital twin is connected to the network and the physical machine, it creates another vector that hackers are eager to exploit.

Virtual Environments Pose Tangible Security Risks Digital twins often have production data or access to production systems, but are not always considered as sensitive as a real production environment As such, they are generally not secure to the same level as their physical counterparts.

For example, let's look at how employees access digital twins In a true production environment, access is often initiated through production proxies.

A production proxy approach ensures that the connection is not from the employee's home computer, but rather from a remote workstation or similar system, greatly reducing the likelihood of malware on the old machine can access the production system This is not the case when employees interact with a digital twin, and if this access is exploited, hackers can gain access to the physical system from there.

In a manufacturing environment where IoT sensors are linked to a digital twin system to enable the collection of production data, it is possible that a malicious actor could manipulate these sensors to skew the data they return If these same sensors are used to control production processes, it could lead to real physical damage.

Nuclear power plants offer another scarier example of the devastation that could be wrought by the exploitation of a digital twin It is imperative that security teams review and test these systems as they are implemented to think about these potential scenarios and develop a plan to mitigate them in advance.

More access, more problems Another digital twin security problem is the growing number of people who have access to the technology As mentioned above, digital twins are often used to train staff, which means new hires have direct access to these virtual systems – an unlikely scenario in a real production environment.

As with any area of ​​security, the threat surface increases with more access points and more users with access permissions These users could succumb to phishing emails and malware attacks or inadvertently introduce vulnerabilities due to their own bad security habits.

for example by accessing a digital twin from a public network or reusing passwords across multiple accounts The Data Dilemma When designing a digital twin, organizations should also consider whether they really need real-time data access, as this presents a significant security headache.

Whenever possible, organizations should follow an approach where production data is periodically exported to a separate environment used by the digital twin Another data concern is what happens when companies open up access to the digital twin to multiple third parties and external groups.

For example, sports stadiums are increasingly using digital twins for building maintenance and energy optimization Going forward, some envision an app store approach where this data is shared with promoters, dealers, team owners and other stakeholders.

In this case, it is imperative that security is a priority, as hackers would be extremely interested in this information Without the right settings – and the right security systems in place – this scenario could quickly become the Achilles heel of physical and digital security.

The other side of the coin: digital twins also bring security advantages Of course, it's not all bad news when it comes to digital twins and security Modeling a network or computing environment with a digital twin could be a great way to perform more aggressive penetration testing than might be allowed on the actual production network.

When red teams launch attacks against real systems, they need to make sure they aren't too destructive and impede business continuity, but that's no longer an issue when deploying a twin digital Organizations can conduct real ransomware campaigns in the digital twin environment to test the strength of their response to uncover any unknowns and strengthen their defense against a real attack.

Digital twins can also be used to test physical security For example, a utility provider could assess what would happen to the network if a particular substation was attacked, or a sports stadium could identify design flaws in the building that an attacker on site could exploit.

Lock-Step Security Despite the benefits, organizations cannot ignore the potential pitfalls The best way to combat digital twin security issues is to involve security teams from the start.

A security team will help ensure that digital twins are designed with a “least privilege” approach so that they are as far removed from the physical environment as possible Additionally, once deployed, it is important to have an audit for any connection between physical and virtual systems.

By their very nature, digital twins will always have a larger user base than their physical counterparts As such, it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023 By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! By their very nature, digital twins will always have a larger user base than their physical counterparts As such, it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023 By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! By their very nature, digital twins will always have a larger user base than their physical counterparts As such, it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023 By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! digital twins will always have a larger pool of users than their physical counterparts As such, it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023 By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! digital twins will always have a larger pool of users than their physical counterparts As such, it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023 By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023.

By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! it is essential that companies conduct ongoing security training to ensure that various employee-specific vulnerabilities are mitigated.

Expect new digital twin use cases to emerge across industries throughout 2023 By taking action to address security vulnerabilities, businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to the threat actors eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to threat actors who are eagerly waiting to exploit it Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS! businesses will reap the benefits of technology without falling victim to threat actors who are eagerly waiting to exploit it.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Merlin Lightpainting; THANKS!.