Ever wish there was a way to keep

Ever wish there was a way to keep a disgruntled employee from destroying records or messing with files or NC programs? This is a scary time for an employer or manager - not knowing how an employee will react to an unfortunate situation like cutbacks or downsizing. Manufacturing companies today are having the screws put to them due to a suppressed market that has been long and difficult. Unfortunately, sometimes-good employees have to be let go. If not, the business will fold. It's a tough decision to make but one that many companies have had to face recently. Even more unfortunate, emotions sometimes run high and these employees feel they should make a "statement" about their unfortunate situation.

Today, the typical manufacturing company cannot afford to have an IT department watching over all their PCs, and other computing equipment, including their machine tool(s). Yes, their machines. Each of these machines has a computer inside that is completely vulnerable to attack - especially if the machine is connected to the company network. Besides attacks from the outside, inside attacks cause companies to lose productivity and money all the time. Removing one decimal point somewhere in an important revenue-generating program could cause many thousands of dollars damage to that machine tool and tooling - damage that cannot be repaired in many cases.

So what's a CNC machining company to do? You can't afford to staff more people or hire consultants to secure your network - after all that are why you had to lay someone off. Times are tough and the company is struggling to survive.

Help Is On the Way

Soon, security will be built-in to the PC on any motherboard. This will allow someone in IT, which can be anyone, to give someone access, or deny access to any PC in the company (whether on a desk or built-in to a machine control). So if you suspect there may be problems, access can be turned off ahead of time over a network connection. With the the right software, it will be easy. Okay so you've heard that before, but it really will be easy.

Security Gets Attention

In the year 2003, the number one word used in search engines last year was "embedded". Embedded refers to software loaded onto a small computer chip. For 2004, this will have a huge impact on security for companies looking to protect their data from viruses or attacks (from people outside, or inside, the company).

Some computing "Gorillas" have been getting together since the late 1990s (remember those days?) and formed a group to collaborate on ideas and come up with a solution. Some of these companies include AMD, Intel, Microsoft, Verisign, Wave Systems and many more. These products are finally hitting the shelves. Intel recently announced its new security-specific motherboard for PCs, the Intel D865GRH motherboard.

This motherboard has what's called a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) soldered onto the board. This TPM chip is a piece of hardware that will actually act as a "vault" for your PC, or the files or NC-programs stored on the PC. The files can be encrypted when they are saved, with the key to unlock the file, stored in the TPM. A matching "key" can be assigned to any user. For example, XYZ Corp. would have a key assigned to the owner, the manager and the NC-Programmer. At any time, the owner can take that key away, or give it to someone else. Beautiful, isn't it?

This "key" will allow the NC-programmer access to only the things he accesses: CAD CAM Software programs, NC-programs, Posts, Secured E-mail like Outlook, Internal Company Data (that only he needs to see), etc. For an administrative person, they would not have a key to the CAD CAM Software, or Posts, since this does not concern them. Their "keys" would allow them to have access to accounting software, employee records, etc. With the proper management software, the assigning of keys for new/old employees will be a simple drag-and-drop operation and managing everyone's access will be easy, so any owner or manager can act as the IT person in this regard.

By the end of 2004, this TPM-enabled motherboard will have plenty of company. The Trusted Computing Group (which came up with the idea) anticipates many more PC makers to jump on board in the first-half of the year, as well as many other motherboard manufacturers. Currently, this technology is available on select HP and IBM computers: HP 530d desktop series and IBM Thinkpad notebooks. Your company may already have some of these PC in the building. By the end of 2004, the group anticipates to see a majority of computing equipment in support of the specification so "Trusted Computing" is gaining traction, which is good for us all. It will make security more affordable to the smaller company, or single user.

So What Happens If I Lose My "Keys"?

No problem. This isn't like your car keys where you find yourself borrowing a coat-hanger from the dry-cleaner shop nearby. There are software companies that are making solutions available to prevent this from being a problem. One company, Wave Systems, which in August announced the availability of their Embassy Trust Suite software, will allow you to recover those keys if you lose them, or get a new computer and need to transfer everything from one PC to another. This software encrypts files and manages them easily so your worries of losing a key and never being able to get access to a file again are over.

What's more is that their software allows you to work with this security system across multiple brands of computers. So it doesn't matter if you bought one from Gateway and another from HP, or Dell. All of them will be able to work together as though they were meant to be.

So What about My Machine Tool?

Well, let's face it, the machine tool industry is always a little behind, but that doesn't stop you from calling them up and requesting they provide built-in security using the new motherboard design. More and more machine tools are being networked. As they are "plugged-in" to the company network, any virus that infects the company computer system can infect the machine tools. A hacker can delete key NC-programs or destroy CAM files or posts. If enough manufacturing managers and owners send emails and letters to these machine OEMs, the problem will be addressed more quickly, and the machine tools will be just another "secure PC" on the network. Once enough requests are made, the machine OEM will have no choice but to respond to the demand for more security, and contact the control manufacturers to "embed" security in the control. Don't let your machine tools be unsecured, secure them in the vault and protect your company from outside (or inside) attack.