UC Davis Joins Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute
University of California, Davis is a partner in the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII), led by the University of Texas at San Antonio and formally launched Nov. 19. Established through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, the $111 million public-private partnership is a consortium of 59 proposed member institutions with a goal of driving American manufacturers and supply chains to further adopt secure, energy-efficient approaches, ultimately securing and sustaining the nation’s leadership in global manufacturing competitiveness.
U.S. manufacturers are one of the top targets for cyber criminals and nation-state adversaries, impacting the production of energy technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines. Integration across the supply chain network and an increased use of automation applied in manufacturing processes can make industrial infrastructures vulnerable to cyberattacks. To protect American manufacturing jobs and workers, CyManII will transform U.S. advanced manufacturing and make manufacturers more energy efficient, resilient and globally competitive against our nation’s adversaries.
As part of its national strategy, CyManII will focus on three high priority areas where collaborative research and development can help U.S. manufacturers: securing automation, securing the supply chain network, and building a national program for education and workforce development.
“As U.S. manufacturers increasingly deploy automation tools in their daily work, those technologies must be embedded with powerful cybersecurity protections,” said Howard Grimes, CyManII chief executive officer and associate vice president and associate vice provost at UTSA. “UTSA has assembled a team of best-in-class national laboratories, industry, nonprofit and academic organizations to cybersecure the U.S. manufacturing enterprise. Together, we will share the mission to protect the nation’s supply chain, preserve its critical infrastructure and boost its economy.”
Understanding cybersecurity threats in manufacturing industry
CyManII’s research objectives will focus on understanding the evolving cybersecurity threats to greater energy efficiency in manufacturing industries, developing new cybersecurity technologies and methods, and sharing information and knowledge with the broader community of U.S. manufacturers.
UC Davis is one of the 24 university partners participating in the consortium. “We are excited to work with such an extensive network of partners and contribute our expertise in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and sensor networks to address this important need for the nation,” said Prasant Mohapatra, vice chancellor for research and professor of computer science at UC Davis. Mohapatra is principal investigator for the UC Davis arm of the project.
CyManII aims to revolutionize cybersecurity in manufacturing by designing and building a secure manufacturing architecture that is pervasive, unobtrusive and enables energy efficiency. This industry-driven approach is essential, Grimes said, allowing manufacturers of all sizes to invest in cybersecurity and achieve an energy ROI rather than continually spending money on cyber patches.
These efforts will result in a suite of methods, standards and tools rooted in the concept that everything in the manufacturing supply chain has a unique authentic identity. These solutions will address the comprehensive landscape of complex vulnerabilities and be economically implemented in a wide array of machines and environments.
Proposed members of CyManII include three Department of Energy National Laboratories (Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories), four Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, 24 universities, 18 industry leaders and 10 nonprofits. This national network of members will drive impact across the nation and solve the biggest challenges facing cybersecurity in the U.S manufacturing industry.
CyManII is funded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) and co-managed with the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER).