Trustpoint: Digital identities for a secure industry

The aim of the project “Digitale Identitäten für eine sichere Industrie (Trustpoint)” is to develop an open-source solution. This should ensure that machine identities can be provided and managed securely in a network over the entire life cycle. The new solution serves as a trust anchor and aims to support companies in monitoring trust chains. The desired solution should provide an easier and better way to safeguard machines and their components used in factories. To achieve this goal, the researchers analyse existing technologies and standards and define special requirements and needs within industrial environments. Building on this, collaboration between companies should lead to the practical development of an open-source solution. Finally, the trust anchor that is developed will be tested and evaluated by the project team in a factory environment.

• Collaborate to develop the open-source solution as far as software maturity
• Analyse the current situation and the problems involved in managing machine identities in industrial environments
• Identify the requirements for a secure and automated solution to provide digital identities in the form of a report with the results
• Design a solution for providing digital identities based on the results of the analysis and the list of requirements
• Secure commissioning and bootstrapping in accordance with RFC 8995 (BRSKI)

Under the leadership of Campus Schwarzwald, the associated consortium consisting of asvin GmbH, Keyfactor, achelos GmbH and Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences has extensive expertise and experience in the field of digital identities and their application in an industrial environment. The project is supported by the companies ARBURG GmbH + Co KG, HOMAG, FANUC Europe, Phoenix Contact and Siemens. 

The trust anchor developed in the project will allow companies to identify and operate their machines securely within a network. Its implementation will result in greater security, efficiency and flexibility in industrial processes. The goal is to achieve compliant, seamless and trustworthy communication between different players in the industrial environment. The Trustpoint project makes an important contribution to the secure organisation of digital change and bolsters both the future viability of Germany as an industrial location and its digital sovereignty.

achelos focuses on customers in industrial manufacturing and plans in future to offer Zero Trust based security consulting and solutions for comprehensive cybersecurity of OT networks in critical and important infrastructures in accordance with NIS 2.0.

• Trustpoint | Digital identities for a secure industry | Website of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)
  Project website at the BMBF (in Geman
• Trustpoint | Digitalisation – be secure! | Campus Schwarzwald
  Project website at the Campus Schwarzwald (in German)