A lot of organizations talk a good security game, but one global test and measurement consortium is truly walking the walk to put security in its place – inside its industry-leading equipment standard.
The LXI (LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation) Consortium is an open standard-setting organization that identifies specifications and solutions related to the functional T&M (test and measurement) and data acquisition industries. LXI is the standard for LAN equipped instrumentation that reduces the time it takes to set up, configure and debug test systems.
As might be expected from a precision focused organization, the group took a measured, methodical approach to researching their industry before updating its own IoT guidelines. Members formed a security working group to review internal policies and consider standards of other organizations such as NIST, UL CAP, IIC Industrial Internet Consortium and OWASP that are relevant to cybersecurity for industrial test systems.
They identified and researched potential security vendors to find the right mix of technology, experience and collaboration. Finally, the Consortium listened closely to the needs of membership – more than 54 global instrumentation firms that manufacture highly precise T&M instrumentation that connects to industrial networks and internet cloud providers.
Following the group’s research, LXI Consortium selected GlobalSign as its device identity provider-of-choice. In doing so, GlobalSign is charged with securing all LXI-compliant devices and have integrated our PKI-based IoT Identity Platform as an integral part of its security protocol.
“As a standards organization, selecting the right security solution was critical in maintaining our ongoing reputation of excellence and reliability,” said Steve Schink, Keysight Technologies and Chair of the Board, LXI Consortium. “GlobalSign worked closely with our security working group to identify our challenges, propose solutions, then implement our vision in a way that works for, and protects, our membership.”
In selecting GlobalSign to safeguard its members’ instrumentation, LXI Consortium is relying on the expertise of GlobalSign to develop security protocols based on the confidentiality of data under transport, the integrity of that data, and authenticity of the data sender and recipient, using strong, unique device identity.
LXI Consortium’s membership includes over 54 of the top test & measurement (T&M) companies sponsoring and developing this technology, and more than 4,026 products in 338+ different product families. The solution addresses unique needs of the Consortium’s diverse membership and disparate instrumentation use cases. It safeguards the supply chains of LXI members, their certified equipment and equipment webservers, from the manufacturing floor through end-customer deployment.
The security solution, integrated into every LXI certified piece of equipment or instrumentation, delivers a device identity provisioning and management system, built on the GlobalSign IoT Identity Platform.
To address special instances of equipment that did not have a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), GlobalSign collaborated with technology partner beame.io, who used their advanced cryptographic identity solutions to uniquely identify and assign the necessary FQDNs that enable initial device identity provisioning on every device.
“Collaborating with LXI Consortium and their Security Working Group to define their security protocol and protect the supply chain of its members has been rewarding,” said Nisarg Desai, Director of Product Management, IoT, GlobalSign. “The members recognize the value of security for sensitive industrial IoT settings, and by developing this security protocol, LXI safeguards its global membership from countless potential breaches. It is a shining example that the concept of security-by-design truly works, especially when it comes to including proper security protocols into leading-industry standards.”
Interested in learning more about how GlobalSign helped LXI establish standards for their Consortium? Click over to today’s press release. Then, explore GlobalSign’s device identity solutions for IoT security to stay safe in the world of IIoT.
