Industrial Automation Magazine India

A robust software solution for asset-intensive businesses facing evolving threats

Published on : Saturday 01-08-2020

Ashish Gaikwad, Managing Director, Honeywell Automation India Ltd.

How has the industry reacted to the Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity Suite since its launch?
Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity Suite is part of our ‘Connected Software’ portfolio. It is a vendor-agnostic, operational technology (OT) cybersecurity platform that provides threat and risk visibility and helps strengthen cybersecurity defenses in a control system environment. It is suitable for a diverse set of industries from oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, pharma, food and beverage, pulp, paper, power and mining and metals. This is an enterprise- wide solution, which offers a single platform for multi-site OT cybersecurity management.

The current global pandemic has constrained security budget availability, forced a more distributed workforce and increased use of remote access methods, which has increased the vulnerability of industrial plant networks and assets. Honeywell’s cybersecurity solutions help ensure business continuity for customers with our industrial grade remote access solutions to better maintain the sanctity of OT systems. The industry has appreciated the offering and we are excited about serving them.

As one of the most comprehensive cybersecurity offerings, how does it work enterprise wide as opposed to a single site?
Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity Suite is a robust software solution that simplifies, strengthens and scales industrial cybersecurity operations for any asset-intensive business facing evolving threats at a single site or across multiple sites. It provides asset discovery and cybersecurity risk monitoring at a single site for customers needing just that. For companies needing multi-site support, it allows safer and more secure movement of data and brings much needed asset and cyber risk visibility across multiple locations to help strengthen endpoint and network security and improve cybersecurity compliance. Honeywell delivers key cybersecurity operations management features including:

1. Industrial- grade remote access

2. More secure content transfer
3. IT and OT asset discovery and inventory
4. Asset monitoring and alerting, and
5. Software patching and antivirus updates.

In summary – the enterprise solution offers a ‘plumbing’ to move data more safely, to load important software updates, and to upgrade antivirus patches to continuously enhance the security.

With OT and IT merging– will this further bridge the traditional gap between the two?
The world is moving towards a ‘connected-operations’ future. OT networks are becoming connected to Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, which support critical information of a company. With Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) backed by smart devices, OT and IT infrastructures are blending to result in cost-effective and safer operations. The digital transformation, with its interaction between OT and IT, puts additional demands on the OT cybersecurity. Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity Suite helps companies take advantage of the new world and the benefits of connectivity, while supporting stronger cybersecurity defenses around the industrial facilities.

What kind of support does Honeywell offer for effective 24x7x365 enterprise wide surveillance?
For customers who don’t have the cyber expertise or the time to look after their own OT security centers, Honeywell offers Managed Security Services, using the Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity technology. The 24x7 monitoring allows industrial facilities to focus on their core processes while leaving the care of their plants’ OT cybersecurity to Honeywell. Our Managed Security Centres serve 400+ customers globally for OT Cybersecurity delivering:
-Managed Security Services
-Industrial-grade remote access
-Patch and anti-virus updates
-Continuous monitoring and alerting, and
-Threat and vulnerability identification via SIEM & IDS analytics.

In addition to its Managed Security Service Centers, Honeywell has built a strong infrastructure for Innovation and Development Centres across the world as well as professional Security Consulting Services. By leveraging what Honeywell has to offer, customers can save time, budget and use Honeywell’s experience and best practices to improve their organisations’ cybersecurity maturity.

Is there an offering in this suite that suits the smaller companies with single or just a handful of locations?

Yes. Honeywell Forge Cybersecurity Suite simplifies cybersecurity for industrial operators by unifying the most commonly needed OT security capabilities in one software platform. Honeywell’s Forge Cybersecurity Suite comes in Enterprise Premium, Core and Site options. It can be leveraged by all categories of customers with varied sizes to address their requirements. From inventorying assets on a process control network; to moving and using operations data; to strengthening endpoint and network security; to improving cybersecurity compliance and more, Forge delivers a grow-as-you-go software solution to address cybersecurity pain points in OT and IIoT environments. We can help the customers to develop a complete strategy and then implement the cybersecurity in a phased manner to scale it up.

The pen drive – a major risk – cannot be banished totally. How can its use be rendered safe by something like SMX?
Honeywell’s Secure Media Exchange (SMX) solution bridges the divide between IT and OT requirements for safer process manufacturing. This technology solution minimises cybersecurity risks and limits operational disruptions by monitoring, better protecting, and logging use of removable media throughout industrial facilities. SMX provides plant operators with unprecedented control and visibility into the more secure use of USB and removable media by personnel and contractors, reducing cyber risk to process control networks globally. SMX provides the latest in advanced threat detection capabilities to critical infrastructures and isolated network environments. SMX bridges the divide between IT and OT requirements for safer process manufacturing. It delivers vendor-agnostic threat research updates while securely closing security gaps.