New Software Automatically Identifies Vulnerable Production Assets

Production facilities are increasingly the targets of cyberattacks. Industrial companies are therefore required to identify and close potential vulnerabilities in their systems. To address the need to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities on the shop floor as quickly as possible, Siemens has launched a new cybersecurity software-as-a-service.

The cloud-based SINEC Security Guard offers automated vulnerability mapping and security management optimized for industrial operators in OT environments. The software can automatically assign known cybersecurity vulnerabilities to the production assets of industrial companies. This allows industrial operators and automation experts who don’t have dedicated cybersecurity expertise to identify cybersecurity risks among their OT assets on the shop floor and receive a risk- based threat analysis. The software then recommends and prioritizes mitigation measures. Defined mitigation measures can also be planned and tracked by the tool’s integrated task management. SINEC Security Guard is offered as cybersecurity software-as-a-service (“SaaS”), is hosted by Siemens and will be available for purchase in July 2024 on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace and on the Siemens Digital Exchange.

Increasing protection by reducing manual effort

“With SINEC Security Guard, customers can focus their resources on the most urgent and relevant vulnerabilities, while having full risk transparency in their factory. It is unique because it takes the specific situation of the customer’s operational environment into consideration while providing a single pane of glass for security- relevant information in the OT area,” says Dirk Didascalou, CTO of Siemens Digital Industries. “When developing the SINEC Security Guard, we drew on our extensive experience with cybersecurity in our own factories.”

Today, industrial operators are tasked with continuously safeguarding their production assets on the shop floor. They need to analyze vendor security advisories, manually match them to the asset inventory of their factory and prioritize mitigation measures. Because this process is time-consuming and error-prone using the existing tools, factories are running the risk of missing critical vulnerabilities in their assets or producing false-positives. This can lead to incorrectly configured plant components and inadequately allocated resources. With the SINEC Security Guard, industrial operators can tackle these challenges without needing in-depth cybersecurity knowledge.

Attack detection at scale with Microsoft Sentinel

For a comprehensive view of IT and OT cybersecurity, SINEC Security Guard will also offer a connection to Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft’s Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution for proactive threat detection, investigation and response. Once connected, SINEC Security Guard can send alerts for security events including attacks to Sentinel, enabling a security analyst to incorporate SINEC Security Guard insights and conclusions in investigations and responses with Microsoft Sentinel powered Security Operations Centers.

“As information technology and operational technology systems continue to converge, a holistic cybersecurity architecture is key to protecting IT and OT capabilities alike. By combining our domain knowledge, Siemens and Microsoft make it easier for industrial operators to efficiently detect and address cybersecurity threats at scale,” says Ulrich Homann, Corporate Vice President, Cloud + AI at Microsoft.

SINEC Security Guard also supports the manual upload of existing asset information for asset inventory. Siemens recommends, however, that industrial operators use the Industrial Asset Hub, the Siemens cloud-based Asset Management solution, to enable continuous automated asset inventory management.

Functionalities also include signature-based network intrusion and attack detection via the SINEC Security Guard Sensor, an Industrial Edge app, which gives users live information about their industrial network. The SINEC Security Guard Sensor App is available at the Siemens Industrial Edge Marketplace.

The initial release of SINEC Security Guard only supports Siemens OT assets but third-party device support is planned in the future. SINEC Security Guard will expand the existing Siemens software portfolio for OT network security consisting of SINEC Security Inspector and SINEC Security Monitor.

www.usa.siemens.com

About Siemens
Siemens Digital Industries (DI) is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. Closely collaborating with partners and customers, DI drives the digital transformation in the process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end set of products, solutions and services to integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI’s unique portfolio supports customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its portfolio to integrate cutting-edge future technologies. Siemens Digital Industries has its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, and has around 75,000 employees internationally.

Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed company Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is shaping the world market for passenger and freight services. Due to its majority stakes in the publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. For more than 160 years, the company has innovated and invented technologies to support American industry spanning manufacturing, energy, healthcare and infrastructure. In fiscal 2018, Siemens USA reported revenue of $23.7 billion, including $5.0 billion in exports, and employs approximately 50,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.