Intended Use and Operator Responsibilities

This section describes what voraus.core and voraus.pioneer are intended for and in which environment they are operated. It also lists the security measures that the operator and the system integrator have to provide so that the software can be operated as intended. This information is provided in accordance with the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA, Regulation (EU) 2024/2847).

Intended Use

The intended use applies to all software components that are part of the two products, voraus.core and voraus.pioneer.

Table 15 Intended use of voraus.core and voraus.pioneer
Aspect	Intended use
Purpose	Robot and automation control on a control computer inside an industrial robot or automation cell, with interfaces for engineering tools, user applications, and visualization, as well as a fieldbus connection to the robot.
Operating environment	A secured industrial network. The operator ensures network segmentation, network filtering, and access and permission control. The software is field-layer software; the operator’s system includes the enterprise and supervisory layers.
Network position	All interfaces are intended to be reachable from the cell or machine network only.
Users	Trained and authorized personnel, with separate roles: the right to run a program does not include the right to create, change, or deploy one.
Safety	The voraus software does not provide functional safety capabilities. Safety limits and protective equipment are provided by the machine, its safety controller, and the system integrator.

Non-Intended Use

The following uses are expressly outside the intended use and must be avoided:

Do not expose any interface – web, OPC UA, fieldbus, or container runtime – directly to the internet or to an untrusted plant network.
Do not allow remote access except through a secured access point.
Do not operate the system without the network, account, and physical protection measures described in Responsibilities of the Operator and System Integrator.
Do not use the system as a safety function or to enforce safety limits.
Do not run modified images or images from sources other than those named by voraus robotik.

Responsibilities of the Operator and System Integrator

The operator and the system integrator are responsible for the secure deployment: network protection, user management, physical security, the update process, and their own application code. Only both parts together ensure secure operation.

Network Segmentation and Exposure

Do not expose any interface to external networks such as the internet. This applies to system and service interfaces (e.g., web or OPC UA endpoints), control and parameterization interfaces, and platform and runtime management interfaces (e.g., the container runtime or orchestration APIs).
Enforce a default-deny rule at the perimeter. Allow only explicitly approved connections and defined communication flows.

Remote Access

Permit remote access, including remote maintenance, only through a secured access point such as a VPN.
Require strong authentication (e.g., multi-factor) and role-based access control for every remote session.
Log all remote access activities and review the logs regularly.

Perimeter Protection

Protect the perimeter against brute-force attacks, for example, by rate limiting and login restrictions.
Apply rate limits, connection limits, and traffic filtering at gateways, proxies, or firewalls.

Accounts, Roles, and Sessions

Replace default accounts and passwords in your IPC and network settings. Use strong credentials.
Permit write and modification operations only from defined internal networks and only by authorized personnel. Apply the principle of least privilege.
Use session locking and short session timeouts on your local operator interfaces.

Physical Access

Restrict physical access to control computers, cabinets, and HMIs (e.g., lockable enclosures, access control, key and visitor management).
Disable or physically block unused interfaces and ports, e.g., Ethernet and USB.
Lock switches and patch panels, and keep operational technology (OT) on separate switches or VLANs. Do not mix fieldbus networks with generally accessible networks.
Protect console, BIOS/UEFI, and boot order, e.g., by a password and a locked boot order.
Protect power supply, plugs, and cable routes against interruption, e.g., by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

Configuration, Data, and Logs

Restrict write access to critical artifacts to authorized roles. Use restrictive file permissions and separate administrative accounts.
Protect configuration data and logs against unauthorized modification and verify them regularly.
Deploy only approved configurations and images, and record every change.
Keep secured, versioned backups of the configuration and test restoring them.
Encrypt data carriers and control the use of removable media.

Updates and Software Sources

Obtain images, updates, and software only from the sources named by voraus robotik, and verify their authenticity.
Install security updates within the support period.
Restrict outbound connections to trusted, approved endpoints so update sources cannot be redirected.
Define and document the update and patch process. Install updates from removable media only after approval.

User Application Code

The operator is responsible for content, quality, and security of the application code.
Define who may supply, deploy, and run programs, and validate the code before it is deployed to a robot cell.
Keep the engineering workstation separate from the robot cell.