Industrial Sabotage And 3D Printing

Is 3D Printing an Open Invitation for Industrial Sabotage?

Nick Hall | July 14, 2016

We focus so much on the benefits of 3D printing that we sometimes forget that every new process brings its own dangers and problems. But new research has shown that 3D printing could open the door to a new level of industrial sabotage on a scale we simply haven’t seen before.
The news sounds a little sensationalist and it seems like the precursor to a sales pitch for security systems. Indeed, the only way to read the full paper is to buy it.
But there is some solid reasoning going on here from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in JOM, The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.

"US, China take first steps toward cybersecurity cooperation." Source: http://www.itworld.com/article/3011770/us-china-take-first-steps-toward-cybersecurity-cooperation.html ("The U.S. and China have reached an agreement on how to begin cooperating on cybersecurity, an issue that has caused high tension between the two nations over the last few years. The agreement, reached in the first high-level meeting of its kind, calls for guidelines on sharing computer security information, a hotline to discuss issues, a so-called tabletop cybersecurity exercise and further dialog on concerns such as the theft of trade secrets.")

<more at http://3dprintingindustry.com/news/3d-printing-open-invitation-industrial-sabotage-87150/; related articles and links: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3094839/hacked-3d-printers-could-commit-industrial-sabotage.html (Hacked 3D printers could commit industrial sabotage. Hackers could introduce defects into printed products, researchers are warning. July 12, 2016) and http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11837-016-1937-7 (Manufacturing and Security Challenges in 3D Printing. Steven Eric Zeltmann, Nikhil Gupta, Nektarios Georgios Tsoutsos, Michail Maniatakos, Jeyavijayan Rajendran, and Ramesh Karri. The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), July 2016, Volume 68, Issue 7, pp 1872-1881. [Abstract: As the manufacturing time, quality, and cost associated with additive manufacturing (AM) continue to improve, more and more businesses and consumers are adopting this technology. Some of the key benefits of AM include customizing products, localizing production and reducing logistics. Due to these and numerous other benefits, AM is enabling a globally distributed manufacturing process and supply chain spanning multiple parties, and hence raises concerns about the reliability of the manufactured product. In this work, we first present a brief overview of the potential risks that exist in the cyber-physical environment of additive manufacturing. We then evaluate the risks posed by two different classes of modifications to the AM process which are representative of the challenges that are unique to AM. The risks posed are examined through mechanical testing of objects with altered printing orientation and fine internal defects. Finite element analysis and ultrasonic inspection are also used to demonstrate the potential for decreased performance and for evading detection. The results highlight several scenarios, intentional or unintentional, that can affect the product quality and pose security challenges for the additive manufacturing supply chain.])>