Frost & Sullivan Acclaims Waterfall Security Solutions' Innovative System that Meets Security Requirements and Lowers Customers' OPEX

The company's ability to stay tuned to market needs and adapt to specific customer requirements has made its solution offering difficult to replicate

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Frost & Sullivan

Aug 15, 2013, 07:45 ET

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the top 50 game-changers in the manufacturing hardware (20 companies) and software (30 companies) market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Waterfall Security Solutions with the 2013 North America Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement. Waterfall's unique, hardware-enforced Unidirectional Security Gateway solution allows customers to reliably expose real-time operational information across the industrial network/business network juncture to enable efficient business decisions, equipment monitoring and diagnostics, and provide third parties with secure data availability.

By facilitating server replication over the hardware-enforced unidirectional medium, the Unidirectional Security Gateway removes the vulnerabilities and cyber risks associated with conventional firewalls. The software replicates servers from the protected industrial network and makes them available to the business network.

The company has acknowledged consumers' rising dependence on remote technology capabilities by introducing a solution that enables operation in remote locations. Similar to a remote desktop, the Remote Screen View (RSV) provides a real-time remote view of control room displays and engineering workstations that enables remote assistance and services for both systems and equipment. The continued safety and reliability of the industrial system is assured because the gateway solution guarantees that no input on the remote screen can alter any control settings.

"This product has helped solve an operational problem by eliminating the safety and reliability risks normally associated with rapid access to remote services responders," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Sonia Francisco. "The plug-and-play setup makes it user-friendly and eliminates costs incurred due to errors during configuration."

Waterfall has also won acclaim for its second patented solution that aids the exchange of video information over the network, encouraging the integration of secure physical monitoring with control system integration. This creates a win-win solution that packages both network and physical security into one solution for operators, especially in risk-prone geographies.

As it has a highly secure design, the Unidirectional Gateway lowers both operating and incidental expenses. The hardware/software combination of the gateway not only guarantees the reliable transfer of sensitive data, it also eliminates the online attack vector for attacks originating on external networks.

Unlike traditional perimeter protections that use firewalls and thereby incur heavy expenses on labor and support, the majority of Unidirectional Gateway's costs are up-front. For example, the cost comparison at a small site reveals the operating costs for the gateway solution, at $10,000 per year, are much less than the $77,500 per year incurred in configuration, review, auditing, assessment, monitoring and routine security incident costs for firewall technologies.

The robustness and superiority of the company's hardware-enforced Unidirectional Gateway solution has facilitated its inclusion in industry standards such as NERC CIP Version 5. The V5 CIP standard exempts electric utilities from up to one-third of the standard's requirements when the gateways are deployed at power plants.

Waterfall's effective understanding of the industrial space has helped the company identify and develop solutions based on customers' priorities. Its collaboration with McAfee augments the former's in-depth defense framework and complements the latter's application control/whitelisting technology.

While McAfee's application control system prevents execution of malware, the Waterfall gateways prevent the use of stolen credentials to facilitate unauthorized remote execution of legitimate applications. The combined solution is recognized by standards and best-practice guidance as compensating controls that are more powerful than conventional IT-centric firewall and anti-virus systems.

"Both McAfee and Waterfall have strong relationships with a wide variety of industrial control system vendors, ensuring seamless integration with existing industrial networks and further strengthening both reach and visibility in the market," noted Francisco.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company's inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service. This leads to improved customer retention and, ultimately, to client base expansion.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Waterfall Security Solutions

Waterfall Security Solutions Ltd. is the leading provider of Unidirectional Security Gateways™ for industrial control networks and critical infrastructures. Waterfall's Unidirectional Gateways reduce the cost and complexity of compliance with NERC-CIP, NRC, NIST, CFATS and other regulations, as well as with cyber-security best practices. Waterfall's products are deployed in utilities and critical national infrastructures throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Israel. Frost & Sullivan describes Waterfall's solutions as ensuring "optimum security for networks across user verticals" and awarded Waterfall the 2012 Network Security Award for Industrial Control Systems Entrepreneurial Company of the Year. Waterfall's offerings include support for leading industrial applications, including the OSIsoft PI™ Historian, the GE Proficy™ iHistorian, Siemens SIMATIC™/Spectrum™ solutions and GE OSM™ remote monitoring platforms, as well as OPC, Modbus, DNP3, ICCP and other industrial protocols. More information about Waterfall can be found on the company's website at: www.waterfall-security.com.

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan