Defining and Addressing the Cybersecurity Challenges of Additive Manufacturing Platforms

Additive Manufacturing (AM) Platform is a new technology and commercial business model which enables production of additively made parts through an on-line market of AM designs, services, and manufacturing. Customers who are designing parts to be manufactured with additive technologies can upload their designs to the AM Platform and find a manufacturing partner based on technical capabilities, geographic location, and cost. By providing an easy to use online platform, companies can expect to optimize their cost, quality, and lead-time through a competitive bid process. This research investigates the cybersecurity issues inherent to an online marketplace and platform which shares data containing Intellectual Property (IP) between multiple companies. Based on currently implemented business models in the AM Platform industry, the most common use cases will be examined to determine any vulnerabilities associated with data and IP sharing between the platform, its customers, and vendors. Finally, based on the vulnerabilities discovered, a set of cybersecurity solutions will be proposed in order to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the data and ultimately the customers IP through the AM Platform.