Cybersecure manufacturing summit highlights fast-tracked technology transfer solutions

Mark Lamoncha, CEO of Humtown, speaking at the Secure Together summit.

OCTOBER 24, 2024 — UTSA’s Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) held its annual summit, Secure Together, last week, convening nearly 200 manufacturers and industry leaders to exchange ideas and best practices in cybersecure manufacturing and to identify opportunities for future collaboration.

The event was held in the UTSA San Pedro I building and concluded with a tour of the Cybersecurity for Manufacturing (C4M) Hub in Port San Antonio. Participants included CyManII’s industry partners, DOE National Laboratories, the National Science Foundation, the White House, the FBI, the Department of Energy and the Department of Commerce.

"The Secure Together summit reflects CyManII’s crucial role and impact on the national cybersecure manufacturing landscape,” said Howard Grimes, CyManII’s CEO. “CyManII’s strategy is tightly aligned with both the National Cybersecurity Strategy and the National Advanced Manufacturing Strategy from the White House. Exposing our members to this alignment was critical as we continue to drive next generation cybersecurity innovations.”

“Our partnership with CyManII, along with companies like i3DMFG and Addiguru, exemplifies how applied research can bridge the gap between laboratory breakthroughs and industrial-scale deployment.”

Established by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2020 to combat attacks in manufacturing and advance innovation and research in industrial security, CyManII is a national research institute that leads a consortium of industry partners, DOE National Laboratories and universities across the nation.

As a member of Manufacturing USA and as a part of UTSA’s National Security Collaboration Center, CyManII is dedicated to supporting the operational security needs of U.S. manufacturers by developing and deploying secure defensible architectures that strengthen the U.S. manufacturing ecosystem. As part of its mission, CyManII has provided training to over 40,000 professionals in cybersecure manufacturing to date.

Grimes spoke about the vulnerabilities of advanced manufacturing and the growing need for organizations like CyManII to work with a network of partners to address these increasingly complex challenges.

Multiple industry partners attended and presented at the event, showcasing the unique technology transfer achievements emerging from these collaborations.

“CyManII is working with exceptional industry partners on use cases,” said Paris Stringfellow, CyManII director of growth and sustainability. “In these partnerships, we provide the developing technology, and our partners implement it in real manufacturing environments. Our partners provide us with invaluable feedback, which we use to fine-tune the technology to better meet their needs. We expect this approach to significantly shorten the time between initial research and commercial viability of our technology.”

Mark Lamoncha is one of CyManII’s industry partners. He is CEO of Humtown, a manufacturing company that produces sand cores using 3-D printing and traditional processes. Sand cores are molds that are used to make metal parts, for example, engine blocks and other car parts.

CyManII partnered with Humtown to improve the security and efficiency of its 3-D printers.

“CyManII has energy sensors on one of our ExOne S Max 3-D printers,” said Lamoncha. “The goal is to see energy fluctuations that may indicate an outside source is manipulating the production of sand cores.”

The collaboration allows CyManII researchers to make rapid advancements in the sensors’ technology.

"By analyzing energy usage, we can determine if machines operate as expected with respect to their profiles,” explained Gabriela Ciocarlie, an associate professor in the UTSA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Ciocarlie also serves as CyManII’s vice president for securing automation and secure manufacturing architecture and as technical lead on the project.

“This approach allows us to identify potential malfunctions or security threats,” she said.

Ciocarlie attributed the success of the project to the real-world application of the technology and its non-intrusive implementation.

“A lot of the times when you test your research, you try it on different test beds that do not have real world processes and complexities,” Ciocarlie said. “Our partners represent real industry; they have real schedules, real environments and real needs. We get to see our technology interacting with these authentic systems, understand what their needs are with respect to both security and maintenance, and refine from there.”

Ciocarlie believes that this approach is critical to bridging the gap between research and commercialization and avoiding the “valley of death,” the point at which nascent technology often stalls on its journey to commercial viability.

“By conducting trials in diverse settings, we're ensuring the reliability and applicability of our technology for a wider range of industries. These become pilots for similar companies that can adopt this technology in the future,” she added.

Andre Wegner, CEO of Authentise and industry partner to CyManII, was also in attendance and commented on the importance of the industry use case collaborations.

“Our partnership with CyManII, along with companies like i3DMFG and Addiguru, exemplifies how applied research can bridge the gap between laboratory breakthroughs and industrial-scale deployment,” said Wegner. “By working together on projects like the cyber physical passport, we’re able to rapidly advance deep-tech solutions and strengthen the U.S. industrial base together.”

Like Humtown, Authentise is testing new technology from CyManII. The cyber physical passport is a system designed to ensure that products move through the supply chain without being intercepted or altered.

Humtown and Authentise are among 10 partners working with CyManII on industry use cases. CyManII researchers are currently working on three industry use cases. Each aims to address a common weakness in U.S. manufacturing.

— Audrey Gray