Keeping up with industrial cybersecurity developments as the trend toward industrial connectivity grows has always been a challenge. But news in this sector seems to have really ramped up in the past year with the Department of Homeland Security issuing alerts that Russian hackers were definitively targeting industrial control systems in critical infrastructure and manufacturing sites, while elsewhere, a plethora of new company alignments and cybersecurity software features were being announced. We’ve been working to help make sense of this fast-changing market with features such as “Making Sense of the ICS Cybersecurity Market” and we will continue to do so as the market continues to evolve.
The newest development in this area involves the creation of a global partnership agreement between Schneider Electric and Nozomi Networks. According to the agreement, “Schneider Electric will collaborate with Nozomi to provide customers in the industrial manufacturing and critical infrastructure segments advanced anomaly detection, vulnerability assessment and other cybersecurity solutions and services... The partnership strengthens Schneider Electric’s commitment to a defense-in-depth approach that prevents and minimizes cyberattacks and creates a multi-layered, multi-technology strategy to safeguard critical systems.”
More specifically, Schneider Electric will combine its EcoStruxure IIoT process automation and industrial control solutions with Nozomi’s SCADAguardian platform for real-time operations visibility. Here’s how Schneider Electric explains the components of the combined technology offering:
- The bundled solution will deliver the deep network visibility and operations technology (OT) that cybersecurity industry operators require in one, comprehensive and highly scalable solution. Nozomi Networks’ SCADAguardian solution provides accurate asset discovery, superior threat detection and flexible and scalable deployment options to Schneider Electric customers.
- Schneider Electric consultants around the world will be trained as certified Nozomi Networks engineers, scaling to support clients throughout their cybersecurity solution implementation, and providing expert OT threat hunting and forensic analysis.
- Schneider Electric customers can experience Nozomi Networks’ real-time operational visibility and cybersecurity solutions via live threat scenarios running in Schneider Electric sites around the world.
Considering that Schneider Electric had announced a partnership with ICS cybersecurity supplier Claroty in 2017, I asked Gary Williams, global director, cybersecurity offer leader at Schneider Electric to explain how the company will work with both Nozomi Networks and Claroty moving forward.
“This partnership has no impact on our strong relationship with Claroty,” Williams said. “Rather, it is an example of Schneider Electric continuing to collaborate with industry leaders who can deliver unique business value to our customers, while improving the security of their assets, operations and overall business performance. No one can afford to take a one-size-fits-all approach to cybersecurity. Our global customers—segment to segment, region to region—have varying needs and requests. While we continue to work closely with Claroty and all our partners, our customers are asking for additional tools to help them detect, reduce and eliminate cyber risks. We identified Nozomi Networks as a top-tier provider of the cybersecurity solutions and services our customers need to secure their increasingly more digital operations. This partnership allows us to meet those needs directly.”
Williams added that, from a compliance perspective, this partnership will also “help our clients become compliant with IEC62443 levels 2–4, which require continuous monitoring of a network.”
For more information about Schneider Electric's cybersecurity services, visit schneider-electric.com/cybersecurity.
