By Nishant Arora

Barcelona, May 23 (IANS): There is absolutely no single formula that can restore the consumers trust in technology companies, at a time when data breaches are growing multifold, cyber threats are getting worse and people are monitoring what steps the tech firms are taking to secure their digital lives, a top HP executive has stressed.

According to Shane Wall, Chief Technology Officer at the global printing and PC major, the most important thing tech firms can do is to route the security via hardware to all the way up for the end-user devices.

"For a consumer, buying a device is a security decision so we have to make sure to build security right up-front for them," Wall said during the "HP Innovation Summit" here.

Wall, who also heads the HP Labs which is at the centre of innovation within the company, noted the tech companies need to build the foundation of cyber trust in a world where new business models are emerging as well as changing rapidly.

"Cyber threats are going to accelerate and get far worse. Owing to mass urbanisation and hyper-globalisation, static threats are now paving the way for dynamic, real-time cyber threats," said Wall.

"We are investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to teach algorithms to go after the fundamental things and identify the security threats that we could not see before," Wall added.

As cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated, legacy security solutions are challenged when it comes to protecting end-user devices.

To protect its customers, HP's range of business PCs and printers feature cyber-resilient technologies that detect, protect and self-heal from attacks.

When it comes to 3D printers, Wall said that a holistic security approach can keep the vulnerabilities away from 3D printers.

"I am optimistic in the long term to establish end-to-end security to ensure that not only the 3D printer is secure but the supply chain and the parts are secure too," he said.

"We need to build the foundation of cyber trust and security in a merging world where new business models are emerging and rapidly changing too," the HP official noted.

Wall is proud of making the HP PCs and printers secure with end-to-end security.

"Cyber vulnerabilities are going to hit individuals. All devices are today connected to Internet and building end-to-end security is the key to thwart hackers' plans. This is one chance to bring the people's trust back into technology," said Wall.

According to a recent Deloitte report, businesses have already shown several ways to harness 3D printing or Additive Manufacturing (AM) with minimal changes to their product or supply chain.

"Even at this most accessible stage of AM usage, would-be threat agents can leverage the technology to enable economies of scope. Machines are inherently dual or even multiuse, meaning that an adversary could produce legitimate goods during business hours, and quickly convert to weapons or other contraband afterward," said the report.

The impact of AM on the supply chain can have even larger implications for national security, the Deloitte report added.

For Ramon Pastor, General Manager of Multi Jet Fusion, HP Inc., the world today is facing different security challenges.

"I strongly believe that security has to go deeper into the hardware. We currently have end-to-end security at the 'voxel' (3D pixel) level that helps detect security threat at every stage of production," Pastor said.