Traditional OT networks place an air gap between IT and OT networks. Sadly, this air-gapped protection is coming up short against modern threats for two main reasons. First, IT systems need real-time production data from OT systems to optimize enterprise operations. Secondly, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, OT equipment vendors need to monitor their equipment’s operation remotely with minimal fuss and maximum security.
This convergence of IT and OT can expose your company’s infrastructure to cyber risk or introduce a convenient back door for hackers to customers’ operational environment. Many network defense solutions are on the market, but they are not specialized for OT environments.
Every working day, OT cybersecurity teams must face the following challenges:
- Many legacy OT systems exist in the factory, which are liable to become attack entry points for bad actors.
- Keeping antivirus software up-to-date is often challenging.
- OEMs typically do not protect against unauthorized process changes.
- Due to system availability, the OT system cannot be securely updated in real time.
- Traditional network defense solutions do not support industrial control protocols.
TXOne’s Edge series provides both network segmentation and micro-segmentation so factories can separate the OT networks for potentially vulnerable legacy assets from other networks, such as corporate or guest networks. The Edge series is designed for use in levels 1-3, both in front of mission-critical assets and at the network edge. In addition, TXOne’s Edge Series can also use micro-segmentation technology to divide the network of high-risk OT systems into smaller network units and control the communication between specific servers and application services.
It can help the OT team mitigate the negative impact of a cybersecurity incident and limit the lateral movement of hackers across the internal network once they gain access. Most crucially, it can track customers’ network traffic and production assets. In short, TXOne’s Edge Series fits right into customers’ networks without disrupting operations.
