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‘Cyber-secure’ OS for industrial controls is built from scratch
The Russian cyber-security specialist, Kaspersky Lab, is reported to have developed a dedicated operating system for industrial control systems, which will be more resistant to hacking attempts than general-purpose operating systems. It has taken four years for the company to develop the new OS – called KasperskyOS – “from the ground up”.
The Russian news Web site Vedomosti reports that the first customer to use the new OS is a Russian IT manufacturer called Kraftway which is using the system in industrial routers.
To ensure that the new OS remains secure, it cannot be used to execute third-party code or to run unauthorised applications. It is limited to a narrow range of industrial control tasks and is aimed mainly at applications in critical infrastructure such as power systems, telecommunications networks, transport networks, and water and wastewater plants.
Vedomosti suggests that the new OS could be useful in the world of the Internet of Things where there are no accepted security standards so far. It quotes Kaspersky’s Andrei Nikishin, who heads its department for developing technology projects, as saying that by 2020, the security costs of the IoT will represent 20% of security budgets, compared to 1% at present.
