IT/OT Security

The Railway System of the Future Places High Demands on IT and OT (Operational Technology) Security

Due to the complexity of the digital railroad system architecture, the desired high degree of automation and the multitude of newly introduced technologies such as artificial intelligence and sensor technology, the railroad system of the future offers many weak spots for possible cyber attacks. Even if they generally do not lead to personal injury, they can still cause considerable commercial and financial damage. For this reason, the topic of IT/OT security is a high priority for Digitale Schiene Deutschland and in the development of the digital railroad system.

An IT security architecture was developed simultaneously with the development of the digital railroad system’s system architecture. This ensured that IT security was always considered from the ground up in the design of the digital railroad system. Digitale Schiene Deutschland follows a so-called “DevSecOps” approach to developing and implementing functions of the digital railroad system.  Here, the right specifications and tools inherently ensure that IT security is already considered during software development.

During the early testing and piloting of the digital railroad system’s subsystems, a full risk and threat analysis is carried out. Corresponding measures are derived as if the technologies were already in operation. This makes it possible to gain insights into the required IT security architecture at an early stage. In collaboration with industry partners, intensive work is also underway on a “Safe Computing Platform”. Applications from different manufacturers can be run on this platform. At the same time, it meets the safety requirements for critical railroad applications (up to Safety Integrity Level 4, SIL4). The focus here is on “private cloud-like” data centers in combination with cloud solutions and new IT platforms aboard trains.