🚀 Anybus Communicators Ready for Cyber Resilience Act: Security Revolution in Industrial Gateways! 🔒

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In the world of industrial automation, security is no longer an option, but a necessity. As the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) introduces new standards for connected products, HMS Networks has announced that it has made its Anybus® Communicator series compliant with these new regulations. This will enable industrial manufacturers, system integrators, and factory owners to easily meet EU cybersecurity requirements.

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💡 CRA's Impact on Connectivity​

With the CRA, a product's connectivity feature is no longer just a functional component. It has now become a regulated part that must support long-term security, secure updates, documentation, and proof of compliance throughout the product lifecycle. To meet these requirements, HMS Networks has updated its Anybus Communicator portfolio with advanced hardware and software security features within its IEC 62443 certified secure product development processes.

Fredrik Brynolf, Director of Business Line Gateways at HMS Networks, said, "With the Cyber Resilience Act, cybersecurity is becoming not just a technical consideration, but also a purchasing requirement. By making Anybus Communicators CRA-ready, we are helping our customers reduce their compliance effort and risk, while allowing them to continue to rely on proven, industrial-grade connectivity solutions."

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⚙️ Advanced Hardware and Software Supporting CRA Requirements​

To strengthen long-term security and lifecycle robustness, Anybus Communicators now include several key updates:

🛡️ Hardware Updates Supporting Long-Term Security

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  []Real-Time Clock and Supercapacitor: Provides reliable timestamps for certificates, logs, and diagnostics. This ensures data accuracy even during extended power outages, such as weekend shutdowns.
  
  []Dedicated Security Chip: Cryptographic keys and sensitive data are stored securely. This provides strong encryption and tamper protection, preserving system integrity.
  

The real-time clock and backup power with the security chip offer a stronger hardware foundation for secure operation and long-term lifecycle support under the CRA.

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🔒 CRA-Compliant Software Features

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  []Secure Configuration: Configuration access is protected using HTTPS, which prevents man-in-the-middle attacks during commissioning and maintenance. Certificates can be user-managed to support secure configuration in different environments.
  
  []Role-Based Access Control: Password protection is enabled directly in the web user interface. Each device is delivered with a unique default Administrator password laser-marked on the product during manufacturing, which is used for the first login. Three standard roles are supported:
  
  Administrator (Admin): Full access
  
  []User: Slave network configuration
  
  []Operator: Read-only access
  

This ensures that configuration access matches operational responsibility.


[]Controlled Updates and Lifecycle Protection: The Anybus Communicator supports a controlled firmware lifecycle. On CRA-ready devices with updated hardware, protections are in place to prevent downgrading to firmware versions released before the hardware update. This ensures that CRA-related security capabilities are not removed.

[]Intellectual Property Protection: Machine builders and device manufacturers can simplify configuration for end-users and protect intellectual property by hiding Master configuration details.

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🤝 Meeting Customer Requirements​

By integrating these hardware and software updates, the Anybus Communicator provides CRA-ready connectivity out of the box. This helps device manufacturers, machine builders, system integrators, and factory operators respond to increasing cybersecurity, compliance, and customer purchasing requirements.

Manufacturers and integrators can continue to rely on the Anybus Communicator for both industrial network connectivity and cybersecurity. While units already in the field will continue to be supported, new units will be delivered with CRA-ready hardware and software. This offers a clear, seamless path to meeting CRA and customer cybersecurity requirements.

HMS Networks builds and maintains connectivity, security tools, and compliance throughout the product lifecycle so that customers don't have to. For many use cases, implementing an Anybus Communicator is the simplest and least effort way to meet CRA expectations, preserving uptime, performance, and market access.

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🗓️ Availability and Product Scope​

CRA-ready Anybus Communicators will begin shipping in spring 2026, approximately 1.5 years before the Cyber Resilience Act comes into force.