DNA.am Acquires GROW Software, Protecting AM Data

Our Mission: to overcome adoption methods of additive manufacturing surrounding design, manufacturing, and build validation.” – Grow.am

As an industry that has skyrocketed into the billions upon hitting the mainstream after decades of working behind the scenes for a select number of designers and engineers, 3D printing is continually being reshaped in terms of equipment and techniques—as well as through the emergence of new companies, mergers, and buy-outs.

Now, DNA.am is announcing the acquisition of the UK-headquartered GROW Software. To be re-branded Grow.am, they will carry on digitalizing security for sectors that are highly regulated, along with helping designers protect intellectual property in additive manufacturing.

(Image: GROW.am)

As additive manufacturing has evolved and led industrial users to become much more reliant, the need to explore security measures (especially as there may not currently be any in place at all) has become apparent for users seeking to protect critical data—and parts.

This acquisition occurs during a unique and challenging time for many, with the world facing the COVID-19 viral pandemic, the two companies are recognizing the further need for security, quality assurance, and material traceability. This is necessary to strengthen the 3D printing industry and technology further so that manufacturers can contribute more wholly in the future when supply chains are breaking down during the need for critical items like personal protective equipment.

In examining the current state of AM technology overall, DNA.am and Valuechain Group CEO Tom Dawes has expressed concern over “fragility and significant limitations” in conventional production methods. While additive manufacturing should have been ready to fill gaps in the supply chain during the pandemic more fully, there are still “major inhibitors.”

(Image: DNA.am)

The glories of 3D printing and design and fabrication of items like ventilators, masks, swabs, have been well-publicized; however, of course there must be concerns about safety, possible toxicity in materials, and true viability about a range of items being used or that are currently in the design process. While obviously there was not time to get FDA approval for numerous parts being fabricated in the maker community to help manufacture much-needed PPEs, as time passes, safety standards will fall into place.

Traceability in products along with the ability to enjoy secure partnerships in filling AM supply chains will be a focus for the team at GROW, led by Siavash Mahdavi, founder.

[Source / Images: 3D Adept Media]

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IP Security: Reverse Engineering to Test Vulnerability in 3D Printer Toolpaths

We hear a lot about engineering hardware and software and other accompanying technologies for 3D printing, so the idea of going in reverse may raise an eyebrow or two; however, scientists from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering are using machine learning and reverse engineering to test vulnerability in 3D printing toolpaths.

Security in 3D printing has been an ongoing concern for years now, and the focus of numerous different research studies. On a more topical level, there are worries about criminal factions using the technology for evil purposes like fabricating skimmers, making guns for nefarious purposes, and even 3D printing packaging for illicit drugs. On a much deeper, more analytical level, there is vulnerability to cyberterrorism, whether in tampering with critical parts for aerospace applications, creating product defects and causing safety issues and liability, or even interfering in military operations.

The researchers, led by Nikhil Gupta, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, enlighten the public on worries that most 3D printing users would never consider: the potential for stolen trade secrets through analysis of layered materials. Gupta and his researchers have been tackling this issue for years now too, examining risks throughout the online world, but with an emphasis on the potential for cyberterrorism in 3D printed parts.

For 3D printed parts to offer functionality and high performance, many factors are “fine-tuned,” and this is what an interloper could uncover in analyzing toolpaths contained in CAD files; in fact, the researchers consider much of that data to be easily copied and stolen.

Outlined in their most recent paper, “Reverse engineering of additive manufactured composite part by toolpath reconstruction using imaging and machine learning,” the authors explain that as cyberthieves learn how to reverse engineer parameters like fiber size, volume fraction, and direction, there is greater opportunity for both “counterfeiting and unauthorized production of high-quality parts.”

“A dimensional accuracy with only 0.33% difference is achieved for the reverse engineered model,” stated the researchers.

Also working on the project were NYU Tandon grad students Kaushik Yanamandra, Guan Lin Chen, Xianbo Xu, and Gary Mac, demonstrating that fiber orientation can be intercepted with micro-CT scanned images. Loss of trade secrets means stolen intellectual property in most cases, along with what could be substantial investments in research and development costs too.

While spying via 3D printing presents obvious gray area regarding legality, theft of intellectual property is often taken much less seriously outside of the US—with countries like China being known for their irreverence toward IP law.

“Machine learning methods are being used in design of complex parts but, as the study shows, they can be a double-edged sword, making reverse engineering also easier,” said Gupta. “The security concerns should also be a consideration during the design process and unclonable toolpaths should be developed in the future research.”

[Source / Images: ‘Machine learning reveals vulnerabilities in 3D printed carbon-fiber composites’]

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NYU Abu Dhabi Team Wins Hack3D Challenge

 

 

 

 

Two students from New York University Abu Dhabi won the first prize of the Hack3D challenge at New York University Tandon’s School of Engineering. Only five teams advanced to the final round of the only student-led 3D printing cybersecurity hackathon. The Hack3D competition, which is part of a broader global cybersecurity competition called the Cybersecurity Awareness Week (CSAW), encourages teams from around the globe to circumvent security measures in the additive manufacturing supply chain so that they can spotlight the need for anti-counterfeiting methods in 3D printing. The competition’s first round had a total of 49 teams trying to solve a problem to qualify for the next round, which included a trip to New York to attend the NYU Tandon challenge and prize money for winners and runners up.

Led by Nikhil Gupta, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Tandon, the competition is on its second-year run and during the first qualifying round, had teams struggling to figure out the solution to a problem posted online. Participants were challenged to reconstruct a corrupted .gcode file employing skills in forensics and reverse-engineering. So basically, they had to hack the security measures Gupta embedded in the print files that make it virtually impossible to print a component correctly, in this case, a chess piece.

Last Friday, the final round rallied up five teams to compete in printing 3D parts that were embedded with anti-counterfeiting features developed at NYU Tandon and designed to protect CAD models. After eight intense hours at the NYU Tandon lab, Pedro Velasquez and Cole Beasley outrivaled the other four teams as they managed to hack the 3D printing cybersecurity code and 3D print the correct version. Called the SNEKS AD, the team was awarded $1,000 in prize money during a ceremony held last Friday night.

Hack3D, which explores vulnerabilities in 3D printing, brings together students from around the world to compete for scholarships and funding. Sponsored by some of the biggest names in the industry, like IBM, JP Morgan & Chase, Capsule 8, Red Baloon Security, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), this year’s CSAW annual competition gathered the world’s top student hackers with a total of 180 teams advancing to final rounds, competing for scholarships and cash prizes, including NYU Tandon’s more than $1 million in scholarships to all high school finalists in the CSAW Red Team Competition in Downtown Brooklyn.

Hack3D teams at work during the eight-hour final round challenge

3DPrint.com caught up with the winning team during the live competition on Friday via phone interview and both Beasley and Velasquez said they were “thrilled to be participating in the challenge” and “would love to return next year.” The computer science majors are both freshmen and eager to explore cybersecurity as part of their future in the chosen career. Only three hours into the challenge, Velasquez suggested: “we have a good plan in place and are keeping up with the schedule; we already have our first prototype and are printing out our second so that we can start testing it.”

Coles explained that during the final round “they have given us one part (a male piece) and we basically have to create another part (female) that connects to it”. There was a code embedded in the CAD file, which he referred to as a “hint hidden inside the code,” and once they got the right piece 3D printed, they won the challenge.

During Hack3D, competitors also had the opportunity to learn and use skills in graphics programming, file manipulation, and reverse engineering while gaining an understanding of the additive manufacturing supply chain.

Gupta explained during an interview with 3DPrint.com that “hackathons are an important component in finding the strength of the security method, so this year we expanded the competition and had 49 entries from across the world. We gave them one problem, yet none of the teams could completely solve it, so the five finalists that came closest to the answer were able to compete. They had two months for the first challenge, but only eight hours for the final round, and they needed to 3D print the part in our lab to check whether they could succesfully solve the challenge.” 

Last year’s Hack3D pieces

“People have been doing traditional cybersecurity measures like password protecting files, encrypting files but there is nothing that relates to 3D printing itself, so we came up with some design schemes, so using the design features that we put in the files while designing the products. The security features prevent the files from getting printed in high quality unless you use a security key.” 

The runners up were Alex Manning and Erin Ozcan, also known as the pwndevils from Arizona State University, and in third place, the AGGIES from Texas A&M University: Akash Tiwari, Maccoy Merrell, and Mutaz Melhem.

Gupta went on to say that “we found that the cyber threat landscape in the 3D printing world, mainly for aerospace and medical devices, will get worse. For example, if a counterfeit part makes its way to an airplane and something goes wrong, it will become hard to figure out that it was the reason for an accident. On the other hand, 3D printing and general access to new technologies have made it easier to replicate parts or reverse engineer them to recreate a system.”

According to NYU, flawed parts printed from stolen design files could produce dire results: experts predict that by 2021, 75 percent of new commercial and military aircraft will fly with 3D-printed engine, airframe, and other components, and the use of AM in the production of medical implants will grow by 20 percent per year over the next decade.

“Since mechanical engineers are the ones designing many parts, they need to get into a security mindset, to handle this issue,” continued the expert.

Nikhil Gupta

So Gupta, along with other researchers at NYU Tandon and NYU Abu Dhabi, were the first to convert flat QR codes into complex features hidden within 3D printed parts to foil counterfeiters and IP pirates and to provide an innovative way for unique device identification.

Gupta and his colleagues developed a scheme that “explodes” a QR code within a computer-assisted design (CAD) file so that it presents several false faces — dummy QR tags — to a scanning device. Only a trusted printer or end user would know the correct head-on orientation for the scanner to capture the legitimate QR code image. 

“In 3D printing, you are creating a part layer by layer, so we break the QR code into a number of parts–like 300 different pieces–and we embed them into each layer, so that only one particular direction will show you the QR code, every other direction will show a cloud of points. Using any identifiable signature embedded, microstructures or metal sized particles can be used as a security method.”

Embedded codes layer by layer

Continued growth in the 3D printing sector means that the CAD design files and the machines become vulnerable to hacks. Cybersecurity issues in the virtual world wreak havoc, in the last year a series of ransomware and supply chain attacks led to seriously compromised companies and malicious hacking. All this can quickly translate into 3D printing, with objects manufactured being at serious risk of failure, and as cyberattacks become more advanced, the risks are greater. NYU Tandon, one of the first university departments to teach cybersecurity in 3D printing, is raising the bar to spark student interest in the field, by engaging the global community in their annual hackathon. For Gupta, a lot of what we are beginning to see and as hacks become more advanced, this represents a significant danger for AM cybersecurity. The vulnerability of the internet around the world is increasing, accompanied by an expanding community of hackers that didn’t use to have the tools required for hacking. He claims that “there are now more motivations for hacks as digital manufacturing is rapidly increasing, bringing 3D printing to the forefront of the industry.” 

[Images: NYU Tandon]

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NYU Tandon Gets Grant to Teach Cybersecurity in 3D Printing

With so many fields applying additive manufacturing and 3D printers often being connected to the internet, they face security issues that range from privacy concerns to device integrity. Defects in products built by 3D printers due to hacks and cyberattacks could theoretically be problematic. If you think about medicine, new cybersecurity vulnerabilities could affect clinical operations and put patient care at risk. A recent increase in cyberattacks in healthcare-related industries accentuates the need for incorporating cybersecurity in medical research and practice.  By extension, 3D printers and all connected devices need protection against attacks.

And when it comes to protecting the 3D printing pipeline from risks and cyber hacks, New York University (NYU) professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Nikhil Gupta, has been looking for solutions for years. Along with a team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi, he pioneered a way to hide 3D versions of identifying features such as QR codes inside printed components, giving the end-user with proper scanning technology a means of confirming the part’s legitimacy. He also found several other ways of making sure manufacturers and customers can prove that 3D printed parts are authentic and that a component can be correctly printed only by a trusted facility at the other end of the design pipeline. Just last month Gupta announced the development of a system for converting CAD files to a frequency domain, allowing them to hide 3D designs in sound files and more, making them safer against hacks.

Nikhil Gupta

Last July, Gupta along with colleague Ramesh Karri, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, have received a new three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) award to develop a pedagogical program for cybersecurity in 3D printing that will include a variety of educational activities and resources around a new graduate-level course: Cybersecurity in Additive Manufacturing. They will teach mechanical engineering students the tools necessary for innovations in the field of white-hat hacking (also known as ‘ethical hackers’ attempting to find security holes via hacking, with permission from the system owner making the process completely legal). According to NYU Tandon, the course will bridge the gap between the fields of cybersecurity and mechanical design to provide a security mindset to mechanical engineers and materials scientists.

The collaborative educational initiative will begin this month and received an award of $464,034 as part of the NSF’s Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program.

The project includes a partnership with the New York City College of Technology (City Tech) that will provide resources for that school to implement a similar course on their Brooklyn campus near NYU Tandon. Gupta said that as part of the program, NYU Tandon may recruit summer undergraduate students from City Tech, to participate in the summer undergraduate research program on cybersecurity in 3D printing.

 “We feel that having created a body of research and methods in this very critical — and rather unexplored — area of cybersecurity, it was critical that we share it and prepare a trained workforce,” said Gupta. “This support from the National Science Foundation allows us to develop a pedagogical foundation for passing the technologies we have developed on to the next generation of engineers, including, thanks in part to our relationship with City Tech, those under-represented in engineering.”

The project will first develop an introductory graduate-level course on AM security to be taught at both schools. This course will be part of a new Master of Science program and a new certificate program, both in AM. An online version of the course will also be offered. Additionally, the project will organize the HACK3D hackathon to build the security mindset of students for approaching digital manufacturing and will hold an annual workshop, scheduled for May 2020, and undergraduate summer research program in innovative research on the cybersecurity of digital manufacturing.

NYU Tandon researchers report that 3D printing is vulnerable

Karri, a renowned electronics supply chain cybersecurity expert, said that “inculcating a security mindset in the digital manufacturing supply chain workforce to address the cybersecurity challenges is timely.”

NYU Tandon

The educational framework in this project will be the first of its kind to address the security challenges in the field of 3D printing. With more and more fields using the technology, it will soon become essential to have specialists in 3D printing security. The NYU team has pioneered the AM attack taxonomy and design-based security scheme that are the core areas of this project. The security scheme requires a collaborative approach because innovative design features are embedded in the 3D solid models and extensively tested for possible breaches according to the proposed taxonomy of threats. According to Gupta and Karri, the interdisciplinary framework of this project enables the creation of a cross-disciplinary course on cybersecurity in AM.

The experts at NYU have come up with a brilliant idea to educate and engage students, and build capacity in the emerging field of AM security, providing the educational resources necessary for working professionals in the field of cybersecurity in 3D printing and young students who are inspired and eager to have a degree in this emerging new field.

[Images: NYU Tandon]

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Aerosint and InfraTrac Extending Chemical Tagging in Parts 3D Printed with Powder Bed Fusion

I can’t think of a single person who likes getting the automated reminder that it’s time to change their password, which includes the many instructions on what does and doesn’t make a good one – capital letters, numbers, spaces vs. no spaces, no repeats, etc. etc. But it’s a necessary evil if we want to keep our data safe, which is why many companies, and even apps, have made these reminders standard procedure. So why aren’t we doing the same when it comes to our 3D printed products?

There are plenty of options to make our prints secure and easy to authenticate, such as QR codes, watermarks, serial numbers, RFID tags, and even holograms. But while marking parts is standard for some, it’s not mainstream yet, and as 3D printing continues to scale, security will become more important, not less.

That’s why Belgian company Aerosint, which developed a selective powder deposition system to replace the single-material recoater in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processes, has teamed up with Maryland-based InfraTrac to extend chemical security into multi-powder deposition 3D printing through covert part tagging.

According to an Aerosint press release, “…the ability for anyone to create end-use parts enables bad actors as well as helpful new outsourcing players. Some of the people 3D-printing aircraft and auto parts are not going to be licensed, careful, high-quality suppliers, and new approaches to protection will be required.

“In this new model, a digital file conveys the ability to create a product. Software protections and digital rights management are necessary to protect the intellectual property in that file. However, none of those digital protections are going to keep us safe from 3D-printed counterfeit parts and products: once the print is complete, its digital safeguards lose their power. Anti-counterfeiting for additive manufacturing needs to be integral to the final printed product.”

Parts can be tested for the presence of site-specific chemical taggants using a small, handheld spectrometer like those in the Spectral Engines NIROne series (left). In the right panel, an ULTEM sample (lit orange) containing an InfraTrac taggant is assayed. Penny for scale. [Image: Aerosint]

InfraTrac has an award-winning method for anti-counterfeiting in 3D printed parts – it adds a taggant (compatible chemical marker) during printing in a small, covert, subsurface spot. With instant field detection, the company’s tagging model provides chemical security to 3D printed parts. But until now, this was only limited to one material, making it unavailable for powder bed 3D printing, which is an important process for scalable industrial applications. But by teaming up with Aerosint, InfraTrac can now extend its model even further.

“Complexity is the enemy of security: difficult procedures invite work-arounds,” the Aerosint press release states. “That’s what makes us reuse passwords even when we know we shouldn’t. Security procedures that align with existing processes are most likely to be adopted, and less likely to be circumvented. Applying taggant or codes should be part of the standard print or manufacturing workflow, not an add-on. Detection should take seconds, with inexpensive, portable, off-the-shelf equipment.”

LPBF 3D printing, like SLM and SLS, use selective fusion of powdered material spread in layers across a build surface, but neither of these two popular methods can place multiple powders within a layer at specific locations. With control at the voxel level, it’s possible to precisely put two or more powdered materials in one layer…and this is exactly the kind of selective powder deposition system that Aerosint is working on.

In its new collaboration with InfraTrac, Aerosint is 3D printing simple demonstrator parts from both polymer and metal, which include fingerprinting sites that are based on InfraTrac’s powder formulation. These components, printed on either an SLM or SLS system that is equipped with the special recoater, have embedded materials at specific sites that can be traced by InfraTrac; then, the parts will be tested and verified. Because InfraTrac can make its taggant materials appear identical to the bulk material of the 3D printed part, it’s just about impossible to counterfeit them.

[Image: InfraTrac]

Thanks to the partnership between Aerosint and InfraTrac, users in industries that require the strictest quality control can confidently ensure simple, scalable sourcing authenticity of their parts.

What do you think? Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

3D Printing Industry News Sliced: Stratasys, Markforged, XYZprinting and more

In this week’s edition of the 3D Printing Industry news digest Sliced, you can find the latest stories from an expanding filament to mobile phone security,  3D printed art pieces at Milano Design, and life-size comic book characters. We also cover the latest updates from the likes of Stratasys, Markforged, PyroGenesis and WASP. Read on for […]

GE Additive and Vera Announce Partnership to Secure 3D Printing Workflow

GE Additive and data protection company Vera have announced a new partnership centered around a technology integration that secures the entire additive workflow, from design to print. Design engineers can now protect and encrypt their proprietary designs before moving to the next step in their build preparation workflow, or upon final submission to GE Additive 3D printers.

“Today’s additive workflow uses a vast array of unsecured mix of tools, technologies, and formats,” said Lars Bruns, software leader at GE Additive. “To help the industry grow and lower barriers of adoption, we need to drive towards a secure, more integrated workflow that protects design IP from theft or illegitimate use at the point of design. Together with Vera, we’re enabling usability and efficiency from the design creation in CAD tools all the way to the final 3D printed part of a machine.”

Engineers can now use Vera’s data-centric security along with GE Additive’s new Build Preparation workflow services to secure their workflows. GE Additive is using Vera’s native SDK to protect files throughout the entire document and printing life cycle. This will also ensure continuous security beyond the build preparation workflow to secure powder and material parameters, machine configurations, part printing and more with end-to-end encryption and advanced data protection.

GE and Vera originally partnered up last year, and GE has since been using Vera’s security platform to protect its own intellectual property. In addition to security from design inception throughout the entire 3D printing workflow, Vera’s dynamic encryption travels with the designs everywhere, so there’s no need to rely on secure storage systems. Full data visibility and reporting allow users to understand how content is used and by whom, and to investigate unauthorized access attempts with detailed reports for SOC. Access can be revoked instantly from any individual, device, group or location.

“Being the first to bring secure 3D printing to market marks a seminal moment for Vera,” said Carlos Delatorre, CEO of Vera. “GE Additive has elevated the state-of-the art of manufacturing with its 3D printing technology and techniques. Together we are ensuring that technology is fully secure. 3D printing changed the face of manufacturing by putting the power to manufacture even the most complex designs in the hands of almost anyone. But that power comes at the cost of risking billions of dollars intellectual property from design to production. Our announcement today mitigates that risk dramatically and helps secure the overall workflow.”

In addition to the partnership with Vera, GE also announced partnerships with Autodesk, PTC and Siemens PLM Software, as well as a collaboration agreement with Dassault Systèmes. The terms of each agreement were not disclosed.

GE is at formnext this week and demonstrated its forthcoming digital workflow software solution, as well as announcing its plans to introduce a suite of secure build preparation services next year. The workflow solution simplifies the additive manufacturing process and enables an interoperable workflow. Currently, the 3D printing industry uses a wide variety of build preparation tools, technologies, interfaces and licenses, which creates more complexity for designers. GE wants to create a common experience through a single tool that reduces design iterations and speeds up the time to print.

(L to R) Jason Oliver, President & CEO, GE Additive, Karsten Heuser, Vice President Additive Manufacturing, Andreas Saar, Vice President, Manufacturing Engineering, Siemens PLM Software & Lars Bruns, software leader, GE Additive

Finally, GE is inviting interested parties to participate in beta testing through its Software Advisory and Technical Preview program.

“Feedback is a critical activity in the development of any software system, which is why we are demonstrating our current capabilities in Frankfurt,” said Bruns. “Over the next eight months, we’re seeking customer input from our users to help us inspect, adapt and iterate ahead of our commercial launch.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

Using Audio to Verify the Integrity of 3D Printed Objects

3D printing carries with it a host of security concerns. Tampering with a 3D printed object can happen remotely if someone hacks into the 3D printer while online, and no one may ever be any the wiser – until the component fails. It can be hard to verify the integrity of a 3D printed object by sight, so it takes some creativity to be able to determine that a part has not been tampered with. In a newly published paper, a group of researchers detail their method of verifying a 3D printing object’s integrity – via audio signature.

The paper, entitled “Digital Audio Signature for 3D Printing Integrity,” can be accessed here. In it, the researchers describe their tactic, which involves the acoustic side-channel emanations generated by the 3D printer’s stepper motors. Two algorithms are used to create a verification system. The first is used to generate a master “audio fingerprint” for the unaltered 3D printing process. The second is applied when the same object is 3D printed again, and it compares the audio produced during the printing process to the master fingerprint.

To evaluate the quality of the proposed thresholds, we identify the detectability thresholds for the following minimal tampering primitives: insertion, deletion, replacement, and modification of a single tool path command,” the researchers explain. “By detecting the deviation at the time of occurrence, we can stop the printing process for compromised objects, thus saving time and preventing material waste.”

The researchers who completed this study are the same who deliberately sabotaged a 3D printed drone during the printing process in order to demonstrate how disastrous such tampering can be – and how easy it is to do, and difficult to detect. A phishing attack downloaded and replaced the files for a 3D printed replacement rotor blade, adding hollow cavities inside it that were invisible once 3D printed. The team 3D printed and attached the blade to a drone, which they then flew. Once the drone reached a certain height, the blade broke off, crashing the whole thing.

“Although this sabotage only led to the loss of a $1000 drone, similar attacks on functional parts for safety-critical systems may cause tremendous monetary losses, disruptions, and loss of human life,” the researchers point out.

The new study doesn’t use any specialized equipment, instead relying on a smartphone to record the sounds produced by the 3D print in process. The verification algorithm is implemented as a cloud-based app. The method can detect deviations of individual gcode commands, alerting users to even the smallest alteration in the design file.

The paper goes on to describe how the researchers tested their method several times, using a BCN3D Sigma 3D printer. There were a few challenges to the process, such as channel mismatch, which involved the recordings being mismatched thanks to other reasons than sabotage. These included background noise, different recording positions, different recording devices, and elapsed time from the recording of the master file. With careful attention, these issues can be overcome, and the researchers explain that the algorithm is designed to overcome a certain amount of background noise.

It’s incredible that smartphones are capable of such high-quality recording, which has a negative side as well – other scientists have pointed out that it’s possible for hackers to record the sounds a 3D printer makes while printing and then use those sounds to reverse engineer and reproduce an item. It’s a constant battle between hackers and those trying to prevent hacking, with each side armed with increasingly sophisticated tools. This latest study demonstrates an excellent way to verify the integrity of a 3D printed object, however, ensuring that critical components won’t be compromised.

Authors of the paper include Sofia Belikovetsky, Yosef Solewicz, Mark Yampolskiy, Jinghui Toh, and Yuval Elovici.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.