DeepArmor®️ Industrial, fortified™ by Siemens, to increase visibility, detection and protection of operational technology at endpoint devices
SparkCognition and Siemens today announced a new collaboration on a cybersecurity system, DeepArmor Industrial, fortified by Siemens, which is designed to protect endpoint, or remote, operational technology (OT) assets across the energy value chain by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor and detect cyberattacks. The innovative AI-driven system will deliver next-generation antivirus, threat detection, application control, and zero-day attack prevention to endpoint power generation, oil and gas, and transmission and distribution assets, which for the first time brings fleet level cybersecurity monitoring and protection capabilities to the energy industry.
“Cyberattacks on the energy industry are on the rise in volume and in sophistication, and they increasingly threaten companies’ physical safety and security, business operations, and the critical infrastructure that powers communities throughout the world,” said Leo Simonovich, Head of Industrial Cybersecurity at Siemens. “Many energy companies with remote, endpoint assets have struggled to defend their environment because they either lacked the visibility to detect, or the agility to mitigate, cyberattacks that threaten operational technologies. This new partnership combines Siemens’ cybersecurity expertise in securing operational technology with SparkCognition’s expertise in artificial intelligence to deliver the energy industry’s first solution capable of detecting and protecting remote assets against cyberattacks.”
“Through our extensive work with the energy industry, we’ve seen the pain points and challenges the industry is facing right now,” said Sridhar Sudarsan, Chief Technology Officer at SparkCognition. “The industry needs security solutions that can both operate autonomously and are designed with the modern industrial environment in mind. Together with Siemens, we are excited to bring next-generation endpoint protection that is specifically designed to increase the cyber resilience of OT networks and prevent advanced threat actors from impacting critical infrastructure.”
The threat of mega cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure is worsening, according to a joint study conducted by the Ponemon Institute and Siemens that surveyed global energy industry executives on a wide range of threats, vulnerabilities, and strategies required to protect oil and gas assets. The study found that 67 percent of respondents believe the risk level to industrial control systems over the past few years has substantially increased because of cyber threats. The study also found that 61 percent of respondents said their organization’s industrial control systems protection and security was not adequate.
OT assets operating in the field today are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks as much of the energy industry’s critical infrastructure was engineered before the widespread digitization of industrial control systems. This leaves portions – or entire fleets – without the ability to be patched or cost effectively updated with new security defenses.
