POWER February 2015 - 39

ICS CYBERSECURITY
Secure Connectivity Solution
" Cloaks " Power Facility Networks
One of the persistent challenges for power sector cybersecurity is integrating
operational and information technology teams and functions, especially
when they include remote or third-party systems. A new military-grade
security approach provides industrial control system security without
compromising ease of daily operations.
David Mattes and Alane Moran
W
hat do power generating companies
have in common with The
Boeing Co.? The need to protect
digital industrial control systems without
hampering day-to-day operation of those
systems and their necessary communications
with remote-even third-party-controlled-devices
and systems. Given Boeing's
long history with both civilian and
military aircraft and systems, it may not
come as a surprise that one of the latest
and most robust cybersecurity systems is
based on seven years of research and development
at Boeing involving mobile robots
for 777 tooling.
Although there are multiple approaches
to protecting industrial control system (ICS)
assets, a major challenge has been finding
a one-size-fits-all approach that easily integrates
with all the legacy systems at, and
interfacing with, a facility. Ensuring the
cybersecurity of critical assets will never
be just a one-step process. Patches to ICS
and network software should be made systematically
to ensure the highest level of
security, and staff awareness training is a
never-ending task. (See previous POWER
cybersecurity articles for details.) But with
the number and diversity of digital systems
that are central to today's industrial
operations, an " umbrella " solution can significantly
improve the odds of maintaining a
secure operating environment.
Secure by Default
With the increasing dependency on computer
automation to optimize electricity
production, power facilities have increased
their attack surface. Operational teams (OT)
are faced with optimizing mission-critical
systems at these distributed facilities, but
resources and information technology (IT)
security expertise is typically limited. The
Tempered Networks solution bridges the
February 2015 | POWER
www.powermag.com
39
OT and IT teams' needs and requirements
by increasing the operational integrity and
availability of the organization's critical
infrastructure and information. Its solution
is purpose-built to help power generation
facilities measurably improve their overall
security posture while enhancing the robustness
of their distributed assets and distributed
control system (DCS) networks.
Tempered Networks provides a centrally
managed security appliance solution. It consists
of ruggedized drop-in hardware and
software components that leverage customers'
existing network infrastructure to efficiently
enable secure industrial connectivity.
Though there is no silver bullet security solution,
the Tempered Networks system is engineered
to be secure by default, simple to use,
and highly cost-effective.
The company's solution consists of three
tightly integrated components: the HIPswitch
Conductor, HIPswitch Security Appliance,
and SimpleConnect Web Management Interface
(Figure 1). The HIPswitch Conductor is
a scalable orchestration engine that manages
configuration, security policies, trust relationships,
monitoring, and analytics between
the SimpleConnect web management interface
and distributed HIPswitches.
Tempered Networks' approach for protecting
industrial control systems and devices
has three main components: segmentation,
secure connectivity and remote monitoring,
and managing third-party connections.
1. The Tempered Networks system. The HIPswitch Conductor is a scalable orchestration
engine that manages configuration, security policies, trust relationships, monitoring, and
analytics between the SimpleConnect web management interface and distributed HIPswitches.
Courtesy: Tempered Networks

http://www.powermag.com

POWER February 2015

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