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First ‘cyber-immune’ gateway protects IIoT data from attacks

16 April, 2021

The Russian cyber-security specialist Kaspersky has announced the first “cyber-immune” protection technology for industrial automation systems, designed to connect field devices such as sensors securely to industrial IoT (IIoT) services. The Kaspersky IoT Secure Gateway 100 system avoids the need for extra protection for gateways and connected equipment, such as anti-virus software, device controls or data diodes.

The gateway, developed by Kaspersky’s Adaptive Production Technology (Aprotech) subsidiary, allows equipment such as pumps, conveyors and CNC systems to be connected directly and securely to industrial domains. The first cyber-immune product is based on Siemens’ Simatic IoT2040 intelligent gateway and the KasperskyOS operating system. It performs only those functions envisaged at the design stage, so that most cyber-attacks on the device will be ineffective and cannot affect its main functions.

The gateway uses the OPC UA communication protocol and can be deployed in infrastructures containing equipment from different manufacturers. It has a native connection to Siemens’ MindSphere cloud-based IIoT platform. The gateway provides quick access to trusted industrial data, and allows this data to be transformed into productive business results using industrial applications with advanced analytics and AI.

“Our concept of cyber-immunity revolves around building various IT solutions on the provable innate security basis provided by our operating system, KasperskyOS,” explains Grigory Sizov, head of the KasperskyOS business. “Cyber-immune solutions are able to withstand an overwhelming majority of cyber-attacks,” he adds.

Sizov sees the development as being “the beginning of a very big journey”. Kaspersky is planning to launch more cyber-immune products that will bring a “paradigm shift” to the market, he predicts.

According to Juniper Research, the number of industrial IoT connections is use around the world is expected to expand by 107% in the five years to 2025, rising from 17.7 billion in 2020 to 36.8 billion by 2025. A major challenge will be how to connect this operational technology (OT) with corporate systems, which requires selecting relevant data, converting it, and sending it securely to IT applications. The cyber-immune technology is designed to tackle this problem.

Aprotech’s IoT Secure Gateway 100, based on Siemens hardware, is designed to connect field devices securely with Industrial IoT (IIoT) services

Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, was founded in 1997. Its technologies protect more than 400 million users and the company has 240,000 corporate clients.

Kaspersky’s Aprotech subsidiary, founded in 2018, designs and develops vertical IIoT systems, from gateways that provide secure connections between production equipment and a cloud-based operating systems, to systems for visualising process bottlenecks.

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