Trend Micro’s Industrial IoT Joint Venture, TxOne Networks, Offers Sneak Peek of Solution to Securing Industrial Machinery

New Industrial IPS Solution Draws upon the Best from Trend Micro and Moxa to Protect Hard to Secure Devices and Smart Factories

Trend Micro Incorporated , a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, and Moxa, a leader in industrial communication and networking, preview their first jointly developed security offering. The new Industrial intrusion prevention system (IPS), which is in beta version, detects and blocks common exploits and provides whitelisting control in operational technology (OT) environments. It will be shown at Hannover Messe, taking place from April 1 – 5, in Hannover, Germany.

“We listened to the needs of both leading manufactures and critical infrastructures operators then harvested the best intellectual property existing within the partner companies. The result is a customized answer that goes beyond traditional security tools to mitigate the complex challenges.”

“In five short months since formalizing our industrial security joint venture, we are happy to show-off our solution for tackling security weaknesses prevalent across industrial environments,” said Eva Chen, CEO for Trend Micro which is the majority partner in TXOne Networks. “We listened to the needs of both leading manufactures and critical infrastructures operators then harvested the best intellectual property existing within the partner companies. The result is a customized answer that goes beyond traditional security tools to mitigate the complex challenges.”

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Mission critical machines are getting connected as the world adopts modern manufacturing. Some of these are legacy devices that were designed before connectivity was possible so they lack security layers, and in many cases it’s inconvenient to install patches and updates as well. They are fundamentally exposed to both highly targeted attacks of the sort that hit US utility firms last year, and ‘unintentional’ raids like WannaCry and NotPetya that have caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage.

Trend Micro Research has shown how hackers can easily exploit OT devices’ lack of proper authentication to cause major damage. That’s why TXOne Networks’ Industrial IPS not only provides virtual patch protection but also supports protocol whitelisting in order to shield the relatively weak authentication.

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Industrial Control System (ICS) vulnerabilities are easily exploited and being found in ever greater numbers. However, neither perimeter-based firewalls nor ICS detection or OT asset management tools can prevent lateral movement and internal infection. A perimeter firewall isn’t enough when a compromised universal serial bus (USB) or laptop gets introduced and potentially propagates malware.

“Innovation can expose new security weaknesses and such is the case with Industry 4.0. We are seeing efficiencies and the economic advantages, but adopters need to consider the security implications and design networks, technologies, processes and reporting lines that will address the new environment,” said Dr. Terence Liu, general manager for TXOne Networks. “As the most holistic security answer for these environments, our solution can help. TXOne Networks shelters both the hardware and software advancements of Industry 4.0 firms and our defense-in-depth capabilities set our solution apart from others.”

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