BAE Unveils IndustrialProtect Military Grade Solution

BAE has unveiled a military grade solution called IndustrialProtect to protect crucial Industrial systems from cyber attack, the company announced Wednesday.

Recently documented cyber incidents, such as Havex and its predecessors, show that attacks on CNI have significant real-world effects. Additionally, according to a report from the US Department of Homeland Security (1), in the first half of fiscal year 2013, (October 2012–May 2013), the highest percentage of incidents (53%) reported to the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) occurred in the energy sector.

Previously, operational technologies (OT) and the corporate IT network were kept separate. However, in today’s hyper connected world, in order to improve productivity, profitability and efficiency, they are now linked. This is a tremendous benefit, but also creates new security vulnerabilities, leading to significant potential threats of infiltration or malicious command and control attempts where an attacker seeks to influence how a system operates. 

Until now, keeping this network secure to a degree which instilled confidence required a technology solution previously unavailable. Using a hardware-based solution, IndustrialProtect now enables this secure link between the corporate network and the industrial processes system. This supports real-time, safe exchange and verification of trusted, authorized data travelling between operational technology systems and corporate IT using a secure “network segmentation gateway.” 

Jim Anderson, President of the Americas at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, said: 

“At a time when awareness of cyber threats has increased, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence continues to leverage its security heritage to help organizations, such as energy or utility companies that operate at the heart of our national infrastructure, manage the risk associated with combining their IT and OT networks. 

IndustrialProtect verifies the identity of the individual or system sending information, that the information is received as it was sent (and has not been changed) and also that the content is intended and appropriate for the receiving system. 

Key features of IndustrialProtect include 
Military-grade technology, originated from BAE Systems Applied Intelligence’s national security heritage, specifically designed to be fit for purpose for industrial environments - rather than an off-the-shelf IT solution adapted for operational technology 
Hardware that provides higher performance, reliability and security than solutions based on mainstream software components 
Enablement of true automation, which is a two-way exchange of information between the industrial system and corporate IT 
Network segmentation without breaking critical business processes 
Prevention of unauthorized systems from exchanging information