Join us for a breakfast workshop on Thursday, March 26

For those of you attending Cybertech Israel this week, please consider extending your networking and learning to join us for a breakfast workshop we’re hosting on Thursday, March 26 at 9:00 a.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in Tel Aviv.

The workshop will feature interactive presentations from key figures within the cybersecurity world, among them Dimitry Shvartsman, director of technical intelligence for SenseCy, and Gil Litichever, CTO for Arilou Information Security Technologies.

In addition, we will demonstrate our latest technology for enabling safe IT/OT integration within critical infrastructures.

We expect a lively discussion and a delicious breakfast. If you want to get more details on this event, please contact: Amir Grovais at amirg@waterfall-security.com

We hope to see you on Thursday.

February news roundup: Threats from around the world are increasing

There was no shortage of critical infrastructure and cybersecurity in February’s news. Threats from around the world are increasing, and U.S. gas pumps are becoming vulnerable to hackers. Additionally, President Obama’s administration is adding new laws and regulations for cybersecurity to protect critical infrastructure further. Read about these news stories and more in this month’s news roundup:

Russian Cyber Threat more Severe than Previously Assessed
United States intelligence chief delivered his annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country on Feb. 26. Following the trend of recent years, cyberattacks were listed as the top danger to U.S. national security, even more dangerous than terrorism. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are top threats to the United States. James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, speculated that Russian cyber threats are among the most severe.

U.S. gas pump hacked with 'Anonymous' tagline
Evidence was found that at least one U.S. internet-facing gas pump was hacked by the group Anonymous. This was shown in a report by Trend Micro, which indicated that this type of hack is strictly an American issue because more than 98 percent of internet-facing gas pumps are located in the U.S. While this hack only resulted in a name change of the gas pump, real world implications will emerge from future hacks of this kind.

U.S. Government Pushes Companies to Address Cyberthreats
The Obama administration is pushing for companies to address the growing threats of cyberattacks, to supplement the laws and regulations that are being put into place. It hopes that private companies can help to take the lead because, as President Obama said, the government cannot address the threat alone. As part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, defense contractors must quickly make known when they experience a breach. In a speech on cybersecurity, Obama said, “This has to be a shared mission. So many  of our computer networks and critical infrastructure are in the private sector, which means the government cannot do this alone.”

What the Sony Attack Teaches Us About Security Convergence - Lessons for the PowerIndustry on Securing Critical Infrastructure
The hacking of Sony Pictures was a major cyberattack; however, it wasn’t even close to the worst-case scenario. Cyberattacks to critical infrastructure can cause injury, chaos or even death. Similar to the Sony incident though, the hacks are caused by a blend of cyber and physical attacks and ICS attacks. The solution for this is convergence of security.

Strengthening Cyber Risk Management
In a blog post, White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel wrote about how the government is focusing on streamlining cybersecurity regulations. New cybersecurity framework released early last year showed incentives to push industries to follow the standards. Later in the year, Daniel announced that the government would focus on eight recommendations; in this blog post, he identifies three as the most promising. Among these three areas are cyber research and development. He said that the Homeland Security Department is working with the critical infrastructure community to get a better idea of their end-goals.

Do you want to check out more industrial security industry news? Check out our January news round up.

Continued recognition

Waterfall Security Solutions continues to be recognized for our industry innovation and expertise. Most recently, we were included on Cybersecurity Ventures’“Cybersecurity 500” list, a directory of the 500 hottest and most innovative cybersecurity companies to watch in 2015. According to Steve Morgan, founder and CEO of Cybersecurity Ventures, “We selected thousands of potential companies for inclusion in the Cybersecurity 500, by soliciting feedback from CISOs and end-user security practitioners, researching hundreds of cybersecurity events on the Cybersecurity Calendar, and researching dozens of Cybersecurity news sources that we follow.”

In addition to the Cybersecurity 500, we were also included on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™EMEA 2014 list, as well as the Israel Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list.

These nominations underscore our continued company growth and notable implementations in the market. We celebrate all of these rankings and applaud our hardworking, innovative team as we usher in another successful year.

What’s next? We’ll keep you posted on what’s next for us here and on our Facebook page.  

March 5th - Joint webinar with KuppingerCole: Unique challenges of protecting OT networks and non-critical infrastructures

We are pleased to offer a webinar that Waterfall is presenting together with leading industry analysts KuppingerCole. The webinar takes place this Thursday 5^th March and will focus on the common problems and unique challenges of protecting operational technology (OT) networks in critical and non-critical infrastructures.

In the first part of the webinar, Marin Kuppinger, founder and principal analyst, and Alexei Balaganski, senior analyst at KuppingerCole, will examine the field of industrial network security and explore security challenges that the industry faces. They will also discuss how trends in IT are shaping industrial security solutions and highlight the possibility of convergence between traditional and industrial network security.

The second part of the webinar will feature insights into industrial security challenges not addressed by traditional IT security products. The difference between IT systems and control systems is control. The consequences of bad control are unacceptable. We can’t “back up” a boiler, or a transformer. Control systems are targets every day. Best practices are evolving.

Tune in to learn:

1. What makes industrial control systems (ICS) so difficult to secure;

2. How IT cyber security is similar to and different from OT cyber security; and

3. Why hardware-enforced protection is essential.

The webinar, “Common Problems and Unique Challenges of Protecting OT networks in Critical and Non-Critical Infrastructures,” takes place on March 5^th at 4:00 p.m. CET, 10:00 a.m. EST, 7:00 a.m. PST.

Register here for the Challenges of protecting OT networks in Critical and Non-Critical Infrastructures and continue to check out Waterfall Security Solutions on Facebook for company updates.

January news roundup: Increasing awareness of threats to the power grid

• State of the Union:Finally, an agenda for the 21st century? by Stephanie Condon at CBS News

• Sophisticated hackerstarget the electric industry by Zack Coleman at The Washington Examiner

• Department of HomelandSecurity drops the ball on access control by Tara Seals at Infosecurity Magazine

• UK National Grid underconstant cyberattack by Doug Drinkwater at SC Magazine

The need for stronger critical infrastructure cybersecurity continues to become more evident. Attacks on U.S. and U.K. electric industries continue to increase, and governments are becoming more aware of these problems. President Obama touched on cybersecurity in his State of the Union address, urging Congress to pass legislation that will better protect the nation from attackers. However, his proposals focus heavier on data breach legislation, leaving ample room for improvement when it comes to ICS and SCADA security. Read about these evolving news stories and more in January’s news roundup:

President Obama’s State of the Union address in January hinted at his plans to work on cybersecurity issues. In what is being considered his “21^st century agenda,” Obama includes increasing cybersecurity, as well as investing in security of physical infrastructures. Earlier this month, Obama released a series of proposals to address cyber-related problems. He included in this a plan to enhance government cybersecurity efforts. In his State of the Union address, Obama simply urged Congress to pass the appropriate legislation to prevent cyberattacks. With these plans, he is only scratching the surface of critical infrastructure security.

The growing skills of hackers are challenging security of the electric utility industry. While the energy sector is strengthening its levels of protection, it was the target of 40 percent of cyberattacks in 2013. According to security analysts, the hackers behind these attacks are seeking to inflict serious damage on the energy sector. U.S. officials are warning the industry that the electric grid is quite vulnerable to attacks.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report claiming that the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not paying enough attention to potential cyberrisks to building and access control systems in federal facilities. The report stated that the DHS has not been addressing risks at nearly 9,000 federal facilities, and that “DHS lacks a strategy that: (1) defines the problem, (2) identifies the roles and responsibilities, (3) analyzes the resources needed and (4) identifies a methodology for assessing this cyberrisk.” The DHS claims that it has not yet created a strategy to deal with this because this issue is slowly emerging.

Parliament member James Arbuthnot made comments that the U.K.’s power grid is under constant attacks from computer hackers. “Our National Grid is coming under cyberattack not just day by day, but minute by minute,” said Arbuthnot. These comments came very soon after the German steel mill attack. However, cybersecurity experts have responded by saying that the energy sector is a common target of attacks. Arbuthnot added that it is the responsibilities of individual companies to make sure they have the proper protection. 

Want to read more industry news? Check out our December news round up.    

Schneider Electric Accredits Waterfall’s Unidirectional Security Gateways as “Technology Approved”

Last June, Waterfall Security was welcomed into the Schneider Electric Collaborative Automation Partner Program (CAPP) to bring our stronger-than-firewalls Unidirectional Security Gateways to Schneider Electric customers in nearly 200 countries to ensure the safety and reliability of control system networks. Since joining the program, we have expanded our suite of hardware-enforced security solutions to include Waterfall for ClearSCADA, which securely integrates Schneider Electric ClearSCADA systems and corporate networks, with additional solutions under development. And now, Waterfall’s Unidirectional Security Gateways have passed the vigorous testing of the Schneider Electric interoperability labs to be accredited as “technology approved.”

Schneider Electric is embracing evolving best practices in critical infrastructure cybersecurity to offer customers sophisticated, hardware-enforced protections to ensure the safety and reliability of critical control systems. Accrediting Unidirectional Security Gateways as technology approved gives Schneider Electric customers additional options to strengthen their defense-in-depth cybersecurity programs. Waterfall technologies, such as the award-winning FLIP™, are compatible with Schneider Electric solutions, and facilitate the safe and secure integration of IT and OT networks while protecting critical systems from attacks ranging from garden-variety malware to the most sophisticated targeted attacks.

Cyberattacks against critical infrastructure are a very real threat. Just last month it was disclosed that a German steel plant suffered a cyberattack, resulting in massive physical damage to a blast furnace. This incident exemplifies the dangers of connecting vulnerable OT networks to the Internet – either directly or indirectly – and so opening a door for hackers to compromise critical systems. While the demands of modern day business operations calls for network integration to enable real-time insight into control system networks, this integration must be done with worker and citizen safety in mind.

Schneider Electric’s commitment to best-in-class cybersecurity solutions speaks volumes to their dedication to customers. We have great expectations for strengthening our partnership with Schneider Electric, and furthering our mutual goals of improving the cybersecurity posture of critical infrastructure sites across many industries.      

Want to learn more about our partnership with Schneider Electric? Check out Waterfall CEO and co-founder Lior Frenkel’s guest post on the Schneider electric blog.    

December news roundup: Critical infrastructure cyberattacks overshadowed by Sony data breach

• “Hack attack causes ‘massive damage’ at steel works” via the BBC

• “Low-risk ‘worm’ removed at hacked South Korea nuclear operator” by Meeyoung Cho at Reuters

• “A cyberattack may have caused a Turkish oil pipeline to catch fire in 2008” by Ariel Bogle at Slate

• “Iranian hackers targeting critical infrastructure across the globe” by Amanda Vicinanzo at HSToday

In what was one of the biggest cybersecurity stories of 2014, Sony Pictures fell victim to a major data breach where terabytes of information was stolen that was then slowly leaked to the public over the course of weeks. The ensuing scandal over embarrassing executive emails and the revelation that North Korea may have been the culprit, spurring fears of cyberwar, dominated the December headlines. It overshadowed other important industrial cybersecurity stories with implications for the state of the industry as we head into 2015. These stories included the disclosure of a cyberattack against a German steel mill that caused massive damage to a blast furnace, and the discovery of a computer worm that was removed from devices connected to industrial control system (ICS) networks at a South Korean nuclear operator. Read about these developing stories and more in this month’s news roundup:

The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) disclosed in its annual report a cyberattack against a steel mill blast furnace, causing massive physical damage. Hackers were able to infiltrate the plant by stealing the credentials of employees that had access to control system networks. This is a major cyberevent, and serves as a wake-up call for the evolving capabilities of modern-day adversaries as it is one of the best examples of how a cyberattack can be a threat to safety and reliability.

When investigating a non-critical data breach from earlier in the month, a South Korean nuclear facility discovered a computer worm on certain devices that were connected to control system networks. While no control systems were compromised by the virus, it underscores the security concerns of IT corporate networks with critical OT networks. Any control system network connected directly or indirectly to the internet must have security defenses in place to ensure the continued safety and reliability of protected systems.

In what would surely require a re-write of industrial cybersecurity history, Bloomberg reported that a cyberattack was behind a Turkish oil pipeline fire in 2008. If the report is accurate, then the incident took place two years before the infamous Stuxnet worm damaged centrifuges at an Iranian nuclear facility. The Turkish oil pipeline event would be one of the earliest-known examples of a high-impact cyberattack on critical infrastructures. For the world, it’s just another reason why cybersecurity is just as important as physical security.

Iranian hacker activity has picked up around the globe, compromising computer networks, government agencies and critical infrastructure sites in the U.S. in a campaign called “Operation Cleaver.” While Iranian hackers are nothing new, the story offers evidence that the threats out there are real and they need to be taken seriously. With new recruits coming in daily, our adversaries and their capabilities keep getting stronger. Critical infrastructures need to keep strengthening their defenses as well, including the latest best practice, stronger-than-firewall protections, to stay one step ahead.

Want to read more industry news? Check out our November news roundup.