To offer its customers further choice and cybersecurity capabilities, ABB is uniting with Forescout, the leading provider of cybersecurity solutions for enterprise and industrial operations
According to a recent report by the MIT Technology Review, up to 96% of local industrial control systems are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
The collaboration will integrate Forescout's cyber technology within ABB’s portfolio of industrial expertise and cybersecurity solutions to enhance operators’ abilities to detect known and unknown control system threats.
“The threats to businesses and infrastructure from network intrusion and data breaches are growing, and the rapid increase in remote operations in 2020 has fueled this further, said Pedro Abreu, Forescout chief product and strategy officer. “Now more than ever, it is crucial that critical industries have robust, sophisticated cybersecurity solutions in place. Working with ABB, and its deep domain expertise in the energy and process industries sectors means that customers get the best of both worlds – world-leading industrial knowledge combined with the latest technology, to better protect their control systems.”
Gino Hernandez, head of digital for ABB Energy Industries, added, “Cybersecurity is a real concern across industry, and there is significant value to be gained from better network monitoring. Breaches in network security can cost millions of dollars in repairs and fines, have potential impact from unplanned downtime, and affect a business’s reputation. ABB’s partnership with ForeScout will give customers a high level of network visibility and greater protection across their systems.
Through greater integration of physical technology and software, ABB will help to deliver efficiencies as the need for manual asset inventorying and non-cyber security network monitoring is reduced. Customers will gain comprehensive cybersecurity visibility into operational technology environments, and receive insights to respond to any incidents, faster and in a highly targeted way.
Hernandez continued, “Ensuring compatibility with legacy control systems and deploying the latest cybersecurity technology is of utmost importance. The collaboration between ABB and Forescout enables this – providing a clear path to securing installed industrial control systems, while future-proofing it through new cybersecurity applications.”
ABB will also provide, through a reseller agreement, Forescout’s industry-leading eyeSight, eyeInspect and eyeSegment security solutions with a focus on addressing the convergence of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT).
Forescout’s eyeInspect and eyeSight solutions offer customers a means to identify all connected devices on control system networks, and extract information to centrally monitor and protect a complete asset inventory. The solutions also identify and detect vulnerable operational technology devices.
