Drives&Controls & BACK TO BASICS n SPONSORED BY Cyber Resilience Act: what it means for you The EU’s Cyber Resilience Act comes into full force in December 2027, and applies to any product with digital elements – including drives. Liam Blackshaw, ABB’s UK product manager for LV drives, explains what you need to know. The Cyber Resilience Act is a new regulation which establishes mandatory cybersecurity requirements for hardware and software products with digital elements that are placed on the EU market. All UK businesses selling products to the EU must comply. The regulation entered into force in 2024, with requirements for compliant products becoming mandatory from 11th December 2027. Products with digital elements can include devices such as smart speakers, routers and switches, as well as software and mobile apps, all the way up to industrial control systems. It also includes variable-speed drives. The main obligation is on manufacturers to ensure that their products meet the requirements of the Act, but there are also some elements that end-users should be aware of. Modern drives are designed to be integrated into industrial networks, and are capable of manipulating code on a PLC, sending data into local networks, or even communicating with the cloud for real-time condition-based monitoring. As such, they need to be considered as part of any cybersecurity assessment. The regulation applies to new products entering the market and to existing ones that remain on the market after its enforcement date. While the main burden is therefore on vendors, from a product perspective, improving your company‘s cybersecurity is always a good idea. End-users should be asking their drive vendor what their cybersecurity strategy is, what firmware updates are or will be available, and whether there is any specific guidance for securing their systems. Many smaller companies typically won’t have a cybersecurity specialist in-house, so it’s down to vendors to make sure that their drive products are secure. Moreover, reputable vendors should be taking steps not just to ensure that their new products are compliant, but that older products are secure as well. If you’re running an older drive, then it may well require a firmware update. In ABB’s case, you can simply ring us up and we’ll sort it out for you. In many cases, updates can be downloaded from the cloud, but they can also be installed manually by accredited personnel. ABB also has cybersecurity guides available for specific drive models, providing you with everything you need to ensure compliance. If your drive is affected by this legislation, then there’s a strong chance that other equipment will be as well. It would be prudent to use this legislation as an opportunity to evaluate the security of your systems generally. As the high-profile ransomware attacks over the summer have demonstrated, the cost of not doing so can be potentially catastrophic. For more information, search online for “ABB drive cybersecurity”. cobots One marketpla ... all cobots 2.71 ace 5, B £25,812 ABB 2 0 y! BeL F £3 super co UR From su it t 4 l 2,253.20 ost-efficiency 4970 ReB £4 ® eB 32, s 2,253 R 3.20 igus eB y t per qualit to £4,970 £7,136 Dobot 36
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