Waterfall Founder Interviewed - Protection for Critical Infrastructure and SCADA

ROSH HA'AYIN, Israel, July 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Dr. Stephen Bryen, CEO and President at SDB-Partners LLC. and renowned security commentator has posted an interview with Lior Frenkel, the CEO and co-founder of Waterfall Security Solutions on his Technology and Security blog. The interview explores the topic of Waterfall's Unidirectional Security Gateway technology, and can be found at: http://technologysecurity.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/waterfall-security-protection-for-critical-infrastructure-and-scada/ .

The gateways are a pair of network appliances and associated software. The TX gateway sits in the protected control system network, and contains a laser. The RX gateway sits in the external network, and contains a photocell. As a result, the system can send information out of the protected network, but nothing can get back in. No hackers, no viruses, no denial of service attacks -- nothing at all can get back into the protected network. The communications channel back into the network does not exist in the hardware.

The concept seems simple, but Dr. Bryen explores the technology with Mr. Frenkel and digs into the details. For example - how can this possibly work? Are not the vast majority of industrial protocols bi-directional? How can you emulate a bi-directional protocol over a unidirectional medium? It turns out the trick is to replicate servers rather than emulate protocols, a topic the two explore in ways a non-technical audience can appreciate.

Cybersecurity for SCADA/control systems and critical infrastructure have been widely criticized as inadequate in recent years. Control system networks were once protected to some extent by isolation and by the use of non-standard hardware and software computing platforms. However, the last 15 years have seen widespread use of commodity computing and operating system platforms in industrial control systems. Furthermore, connections between control systems and conventional corporate networks are now commonplace, introducing the risk of attacks on control system networks either directly from corporate networks, or indirectly from the Internet through corporate networks. The Waterfall Gateways are a refreshing change to the SCADA security landscape, as they provide absolute protection to control system networks from all attacks from external networks, including denial of service attacks, corporate insider attacks, botnets, and attacks from new advanced persistent threats.

About Waterfall Security Solutions:

Waterfall Security Solutions Ltd. is the leading provider of Unidirectional Security Gateways(TM) and data diodes for control networks, SCADA systems, remote monitoring and segregated networks. Waterfall's security solutions assist utilities and critical infrastructures to easily and comfortably achieve compliance with NERC-CIP, NRC, CFATS and other regulations, as well as cyber-security best practises.

Waterfall's products have been deployed in many utilities, critical national infrastructures, mission critical environments and homeland security agencies throughout North America, Europe and Israel. Waterfall's offerings include support to leading industrial applications, such as: OSIsoft PI(TM) Historian, GE Proficy(TM) iHistorian, Siemens SIMATIC(TM) and GE OSM(TM) remote monitoring platforms, as well as leading industrial protocols, such as: OPC, Modbus, DNP3 and ICCP.

About Stephen Bryen:

Dr. Stephen Bryan has 40 years of experience in government and industry. He has served as senior staff director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the executive director of a grass-roots political organization, as the head of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Security Policy, as the founder and first director of the Defense technology security administration, as the President of Delta Tech Inc., as the President of Finmeccanica North America and as a Commissioner of the U.S. China Security Commission. Dr. Bryen's extensive experience and high effectiveness have earned him the highest civilian awards of the U.S. Defense Department on two occasions and established him as a proven government, civic and business leader in Washington D.C. and internationally. Dr. Bryen is currently the CEO and President at SDB-Partners LLC.: http://www.sdb-partners.com

Waterfall contact information:

http://www.waterfall-security.com

[email protected]
+1-(212)714-6058

SOURCE Waterfall Security Solutions Ltd.