ForeScout has formed a strategic alliance with Belden Tripwire, a provider of security technologies for industrial control systems (ICS), such as the Tripwire Industrial Suite, and Hirschmann, with the aim of offering the best solution for operational technology (OT) security. Studies indicate that cybersecurity incidents in industrial control environments originate from multiple vectors, including system vulnerabilities, gaps in network architecture, lack of network segmentation, and unprotected hardware and software configurations.
“The convergence of IT and OT is driving unprecedented levels of interconnectivity between enterprise networks and industrial automation environments,” says Pedro Abreu, strategy director at ForeScout. “Because OT networks can no longer be protected by air gaps, threats like WannaCry and NotPetya, targeting traditional IT devices, have caused enormous collateral damage to OT and industrial environments. Through our strategic alliance and integrations with Belden, among others, ForeScout is helping companies and organizations strengthen their security posture across critical infrastructure networks.”.
Given the critical nature of uptime and security in industrial devices, they can only be shut down for maintenance and patching during limited maintenance windows, and it's not always possible to install software or security agents that can impact real-time operation. Now, Belden customers can leverage ForeScout's active and passive discovery and characterization techniques in industrial environments to learn more about devices without taking them off the line. They can also build and maintain an asset inventory across devices at various layers of the ICS, ensure compliance with industry regulations and safety standards, and make dynamic, criteria-based decisions for network access control within industrial control networks.
“Industrial security remains a top priority, and asset visibility is the first line of defense against network intrusions,” said Dhrupad Trivedi, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Belden and president of Tripwire. “By partnering, we further strengthen our industrial cybersecurity suite to expand our asset discovery and system hardening capabilities while introducing our IT and OT customers to ForeScout’s industry-leading capabilities for network segmentation and access control.”.
Other advantages:
• Discovery, categorization, and monitoring of industrial devices connected to the Hirschmann network infrastructure and creation of a consolidated asset inventory across devices in various SCI layers.
• Precise classification of assets such as human-machine interfaces (HMIs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), remote terminal units (RTUs), engineering workstations, and historical data, among others.
• Identification of unauthorized or incorrectly connected devices on the network to mitigate system risks and prevent accidental downtime and unwanted operational disruptions.
• Provision of secure network access and minimization of security risks by limiting service personnel and maintenance team access to only the required subsystems.
• Segmentation of assets and subsystems that share common security requirements into security zones based on factors such as criticality and consequence.
• Control of access to sensitive and confidential data through network access decisions and dynamic authorization based on device and user profiles, connectivity location, device integrity, and security posture.
• Organization of shared information and security workflows based on criteria using leading IT security and management products, including Tripwire IP360, to assess compliance and accelerate incident response.
