Chapter 3. IIoT Identity and Access Management

"In spite of the size, power, and storage challenges in IIoT environments, it is critical that we build strong identities and the means to convey them."                                 - Dean Weber, Chief Technology Officer, Mocana

Designing a robust identity and access management framework has always been a top challenge for security professionals. In the electronic world, multiple technologies have evolved over the decades for access control, using both wired and wireless infrastructure. Access control in the industrial internet introduces a tougher set of challenges.

In the cyber-physical world, due to the direct impact on the environment, ensuring device integrity through mutual authentication is critical. It is important to ensure that the sensor or the field device is indeed what it claims to be. It is also important to ensure that the control commands to actuate downstream systems are generated by an authorized controller. Absence of human...