Cyber security: Just in case Bruce Willis isn’t available

By Control Engineering Staff August 1, 2007

If your company’s cyber security strategy currently involves a movie action hero and fisticuffs to fight hacker terrorists, you might want to consider something a bit more practical. Industrial Defender has launched an updated version of its flagship cyber security software suite to enhance a range of features, including support for Cisco and Secure Computing firewalls.

Industrial Defender, Inc. (You might remember the company as Verano. It changed its name earlier this year.) has announced version 3.0 of its risk mitigation technology suite for the real-time process control and SCADA environment.

Industrial Defender V3.0 is the underlying technology for the company’s comprehensive cyber risk protection lifecycle platform, which includes risk assessment professional services, risk mitigation technology and risk management co-managed security service offerings.

Cyber security tools like Industrial Defender V3.0 are increasingly important to utility companies as they work to deploy solutions to address 83 separate North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standards, which became mandatory and enforceable on June 18, 2007. These new regulations will soon carry penalties of up to $1 million per day for non-compliance, certainly a strong motivator for companies to find solutions.

“As cyber security threats, industrial espionage and human error continue to intensify risk to mission-critical infrastructures, we are enhancing our platform to fully protect against the potentially catastrophic impact on business operations and public safety,” says Brian M. Ahern, president and CEO of Industrial Defender.

Since most legacy systems were not designed with cyber security in mind, the company says V3.0’s enhanced scalability and new capability for supporting Cisco and Secure Computing firewalls enables customers to protect their environment better by implementing technology that best fits their needs.

As an integrated defense-in-depth solution, Industrial Defender V3.0 allows customers to secure real-time process control and SCADA systems with complete perimeter protection, gateway virus filtering, network/host intrusion detection and security event management. Industrial Defender also helps companies meet regulatory compliance mandates and guidelines including ENISA, NERC CIP and NIST.

“Security programs and the needs of manufacturing, critical infrastructure and similar industries are maturing and this is solidifying requirements for security products,” says Bob Mick, vice president, ARC Advisory Group. “Version 3.0 of Industrial Defender reflects these needs for a complete solution with increased scalability, consideration for legacy systems and a single view into security system elements. Industrial Defender remains on track to serve the evolving needs of industrial customers.”

Before implementing any cyber security program, Industrial Defender recommends that new customers undergo a security assessment to uncover system vulnerabilities and identify exact security needs. Following the assessment program, Industrial Defender will engineer specific security solutions for interoperability with legacy or new systems, as well as to integrate the real-time environment with enterprise security programs.

—Edited by Peter Welander, process industries editor, PWelander@cfemedia.com , Control Engineering Weekly News