Emerson and Rockwell Automation Expand Cybersecurity Protections with Dragos

Sept. 6, 2022

Recent announcements highlight the extension of Emerson’s use of Dragos’s cybersecurity technology into its DeltaV DCS and Rockwell Automation’s use of responders from Dragos as part of its incident response program.

David Greenfield, editor in chief

As industrial companies of all sizes get serious about securing their enterprise and control system networks in the wake of increasing cyber-attacks, automation technology suppliers are partnering with recognized cybersecurity technology companies to bolster protection of their technologies in the field.

Matt Cowell, vice president of business development, Dragos.

Recently, Emerson and Rockwell Automation made announcements about their partnership with Dragos Inc., a supplier of cybersecurity technology for industrial controls systems (ICS)/operational technology (OT) environments. Dragos says its OT Security Platform is designed to “provide visibility into assets and their vulnerabilities, detect cyber threats to industrial systems, and enable efficient response through forensic investigation and OT-specific playbooks.”

Emerson's Ovation controller. Source: Emerson

An existing agreement between Emerson and Dragos involved the integration of Dragos’s threat detection technology into Emerson’s Ovation automation platform and Power and Water Cybersecurity Suite.

The new agreement between the two companies validates use of the Dragos Platform within Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system (DCS). According to Dragos and Emerson, the extended agreement between the two companies helps protect industrial control systems and operational technologies for power and water utilities, as well as oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, and metals and mining.

Dragos notes that it is also incorporating DeltaV DCS platform-specific capabilities into the Dragos platform, including protocol dissectors, asset characterizations, threat behavior analytics, and investigation playbooks to expand Emerson’s cybersecurity assessment capabilities and enhance threat detection and response for process industries.

Incident response

Rockwell Automation’s work with Dragos involves use of dedicated ICS incident responders from Dragos as part of Rockwell’s incident response retainer program. According to Rockwell, this program is designed to help industrial companies develop an action plan using proven methods to contain the incident and minimize damage. Rockwell notes that its back-up and recovery services, which are part of this program, keep near real-time records of production and application data, allowing businesses to recover quickly and return to production. “Following system recovery, our industrial security services team also investigates the incident to help identify root causes and strengthen your resilience,” Rockwell says.

Matt Cowell, vice president of business development at Dragos, says, “By growing our agreement and bringing industrial cybersecurity to an even wider group of industries, we are able to reach and protect a wider array of organizations, many of whom are just embarking on the path of digital transformation and have immediate needs to reduce risk as they expand connectivity.”

Other Dragos partners in the industrial space include: Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, Fortinet, GE, Juniper Networks, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Splunk, IBM Security, ServiceNow, OSISoft (now part of Aveva), ISA Global Security Alliance, Waterfall Security Solutions, Owl Data Diode, and MxD.

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About the Author

David Greenfield, editor in chief | Editor in Chief

David Greenfield joined Automation World in June 2011. Bringing a wealth of industry knowledge and media experience to his position, David’s contributions can be found in AW’s print and online editions and custom projects. Earlier in his career, David was Editorial Director of Design News at UBM Electronics, and prior to joining UBM, he was Editorial Director of Control Engineering at Reed Business Information, where he also worked on Manufacturing Business Technology as Publisher.