Cyber threats to the Energy sector are on the rise.

As one of the sixteen national critical infrastructure sectors, it is vital that energy companies are able to adequately defend themselves from advance persistent attacks, industrial espionage and state sponsored attacks.

Towards that end, Attivo Networks®, the recognized leader in deception technology for cybersecurity threat detection, who swept the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards with a record Seven Plus Wins, has announced a new strategic investor in the company, leading utility-backed energy investment and innovation firm, Energy Impact Partners (EIP).

Cybersecurity continues to be a top priority in the energy sector given the potential economic and human safety impact of an outage to our nation’s critical infrastructure.

The rapid digitization of the energy industry has brought about many operational benefits, but has also increased the potential attack surface, which requires enhanced visibility and real-time detection of cybersecurity threats.

“Operational technology environments present their own unique set of challenges associated with securing devices, which often cannot run anti-virus software, be patched, or are simply not designed to be interconnected,” explained Tushar Kothari, Attivo Networks CEO.

“Deception technology provides early detection and misdirection of in-network threat actors attempting to tamper with operational technology environments.”

“Attackers will unknowingly attempt to compromise a decoy asset, providing the highest caliber alert backed by the adversary intelligence required to quickly isolate and remove the threat.”

WHY DETECTION IS A PRIORITY FOR THE ENERGY SECTOR

 

Energy companies across the board are increasingly adopting advanced deception technology to augment their preexisting cybersecurity tools to better protect their critical infrastructure and sensitive data.

A defense-in-depth approach to cybersecurity through the use of deception technology reduces risk with each effective layer of protection and combines a mix of defensive and offensive measures for maximum protection against a breach.

This is achieved through a mix of decoys, endpoint lures, application and data deceptions; all designed to identify and misdirect an adversary.

(See a brief introduction to deception technology and the Attivo Networks ThreatDefend Deception and Response Platform. Courtesy of Attivo Networks and YouTube. Posted on  Nov 16, 2018.)

Unlike other security solutions, Attivo focuses on detecting the threats that have bypassed perimeter security controls, which all determined attackers eventually do.

Highly authentic deception traps, along with data, application, and credential lures are deployed to attract an attacker into engaging and revealing their presence.

This is quick, efficient, and customers have cited being able to detect and respond to threats in 15 minutes, a dramatic difference compared to the 100+ days of dwell time that many organizations contend with.

The solution also adds continuous detection value throughout the phases of the kill chain.

Additionally, as innovation continues to outpace security, evidenced by IoT devices outnumbering humans and cloud deployments winning on economics over security.

The threat risk for an attack on industrial control systems can be as big as a high-profile attack on the energy grid, but it can also appear in less obvious places – like universities, casinos, and even sports centers which often operate with similar environments and infrastructure of a small city.

With Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems becoming increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated and persistent hackers, current security solutions no longer offer the protection needed to defend against a cyber attack.

An effective strategy to secure your SCADA network is to take a defense-in-depth approach with deception technology.

Deception is a different and highly effective solution for protecting SCADA environments.

Since it does not rely on knowing the attack signatures or patterns, it does not need to monitor all traffic to look for suspicious behavior.

Deception also does not require software to be loaded or maintained on the SCADA device.

Instead, deception is used to confuse, delay, and redirect the enemy by incorporating ambiguity and by misdirecting their operations.

As industrial control and medical device technologies continue to be connected to the internet with high vulnerability profiles and inadequate security controls, presenting tremendous risk to human safety.

Deception technology provides continuous visibility into security control efficacy from legacy environments to the most modern attack surfaces.

Attivo Networks provides deception technology based on decoys and lures, which are designed to efficiently detect and misdirect in-network attacks.

The decoys seamlessly deploy in operational technology environments and appear identical to industrial control systems (ICS) and supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA).

With one mistaken touch, the attacker reveals their presence and arms security teams with ultra-high-fidelity alerts.

Once an alert is raised, the solution’s built in attack analysis engine automates the process of gathering threat intelligence, correlating attack data, and responding to an alert.

This reduces the investigation and response time from hours to minutes.

“The threat landscape facing industrial customers continues to grow at a relentless pace,” added Sameer Reddy, Partner at Energy Impact Partners.

“Attivo Networks’ deception platform provides operators with a high-fidelity detection layer to better secure enterprises and industrial control systems of all sizes.”

This new funding will enable Attivo Networks to expand its portfolio of energy sector-specific deception technology, and increase its go-to-market activities to broaden its customer base of utility companies around the world.

Energy Impact Partners joins Bain Capital, ForgePoint Capital, and Singtel Innov8 in the company’s Series C funding round.

The Attivo Networks Deception solution provides energy companies with the tools necessary to have an active defense posture, providing early and accurate detection of in-network threats, forensics and response capabilities.

Deception empowers those in the Energy sector with the ability to protect confidential company information, comply with applicable laws and maintain safe and reliable operations

To Learn More on deception technology for the energy sector, please visit attivonetworks.com/solutions/energy.

Attivo Sweeps 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards with Record Eight Wins

Attivo Networks was honored with a record-breaking Seven 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards, (four Platinum, three Gold Awards), in American Security Today’s esteemed ‘ASTORS’ Awards, plus an Extraordinary Leadership Award, for the company’s outstanding innovation in the field of deception technology and their ongoing development and investment to the ThreatDefend™ Deception & Response Platform.

Attivo Networks

• Best IT Intrusion Detection & Intrusion Prevention Solution

• Attivo Networks ThreatDefend™ Deception and Response Platform

 

• Best Cyber Incident Response

• Attivo Networks ThreatDefend™ Deception and Response Platform

 

• Best ICS/SCADA Cyber Security

• Attivo Networks ThreatDefend™ Deception and Response Platform

 

 

• Best Cyber Critical Infrastructure Solution

• Attivo Networks ThreatDefend™ Deception and Response Platform

 

 

• • Best Integrated Security Mgmt System

• ThreatDefend™ Deception Platform and ThreatPath™ Solution

 

 

• Best IT Threat Intelligence Solution

• ThreatDefend™ Deception Platform and ThreatPath™ Solution

 

 

• Best Vulnerability Management System

• ThreatDefend™ Deception Platform and ThreatPath™ Solution

• *Attivo Networks was also recognized as  a Triple-Winner in the 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Awards, and is a Proud Sponsor of the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program.

 

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is specifically designed to honor distinguished government and vendor solutions that deliver enhanced value, benefit and intelligence to end users in a variety of government, homeland security and public safety vertical markets.

Over 130 distinguished guests representing National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Firms, gathered from across North America, Europe and the Middle East to be honored among their peers in their respective fields which included:

• The Department of Homeland Security
• The Federal Protective Service (FPS)
• Argonne National Laboratory
• The Department of Homeland Security
• The Department of Justice
• The Security Exchange Commission Office of Personnel Management
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Viasat, Hanwha Techwin, Lenel, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Verint, Canon U.S.A., BriefCam, Pivot3, Milestone Systems, Allied Universal, Ameristar Perimeter Security and More!

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards is the preeminent U.S. Homeland Security Awards Program highlighting the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking security solutions coming onto the market today, to ensure our readers have the information they need to stay ahead of the competition, and keep our Nation safe – one facility, street, and city at a time.

The 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program was Proudly Sponsored by ATI Systems, Attivo Networks, Automatic Systems, Desktop Alert, and Royal Holdings Technologies.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland SecurityAwards at https://americansecuritytoday.com/ast-awards/.

Comprehensive List of Categories Include:

Access Control/ Identification	Personal/Protective Equipment	Law Enforcement Counter Terrorism
Perimeter Barrier/ Deterrent System	Interagency Interdiction Operation	Cloud Computing/Storage Solution
Facial/IRIS Recognition	Body Worn Video Product	Cyber Security
Video Surveillance/VMS	Mobile Technology	Anti-Malware
Audio Analytics	Disaster Preparedness	ID Management
Thermal/Infrared Camera	Mass Notification System	Fire & Safety
Metal/Weapon Detection	Rescue Operations	Critical Infrastructure
License Plate Recognition	Detection Products	And Many Others!

Don’t see a Direct Hit for your Product, Agency or Organization?

Submit your category recommendation for consideration to Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at: mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.

2018 Champions Edition

See the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Champions Edition – ‘Best Products of 2018 ‘ Year in Review’ for in-depth coverage of the outstanding products and services of firms receiving American Security Today’s 2018‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards.’

 

Enter Early to Maximize Media Coverage of your Products and Services at Kickoff, and Get the Recognition Your Organization Deserves!

And be sure to Register Early for the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Luncheon at ISC East 2019 to ensure your place at this limited- space event!

Why the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program?

American Security Today’s comprehensive Annual Homeland Security Awards Program is organized to recognize the most distinguished vendors of physical, IT, port security, law enforcement, and first responders, in acknowledgment of their outstanding efforts to ‘Keep our Nation Secure, One City at a Time.’

Why American Security Today?

American Security Today is uniquely focused on the broader Homeland Security & Public Safety marketplace with over 70,000 readers at the Federal, State and local levels of government as well as firms allied to government.

The old traditional security marketplace has been covered by a host of security publications that have changed little over many years.

American Security Today brings forward a fresh compelling look and read with our customized digital publications that provides our readers with solutions to their challenges.

Our Editorial staff provides a full plate of topics for our AST monthly digital editions, AST Website and AST Daily News Alerts.

The editorial calendar and AST’s high drawing website features 23 different Technology and Marketing Sectors such as Access Control, Perimeter Protection, Video Surveillance/Analytics, Airport Security, Border Security, CBRNE Detection, Border Security, Ports, Cybersecurity, Networking Security, Encryption, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Campus Security, Security Services, Corporate Facilities and Emergency Response among others.

These sectors are part of the new integration, where these major applications communicate with one another in a variety of solutions to protect our cities and critical infrastructure.

AST has Expanded readership into vital Critical Infrastructure audiences such as Protection of Nuclear Facilities, Water Plants & Dams, Bridges & Tunnels, and other Potential targets of terrorism.

Other areas of concern include Transportation Hubs, Public Assemblies, Government Facilities, Sporting & Concert Stadiums, our Nation’s Schools & Universities, and Commercial Business Destinations – enticing targets for extremist or lone wolf attacks due to the large number of persons and resources clustered together.

Attivo Networks®, provides an active defense for early detection, forensics, and automated incident response to in-network attacks.

The Attivo ThreatDefend™ Deception Platform provides a comprehensive and customer-proven platform for proactive security and accurate threat detection within user networks, data centers, clouds, and a wide-variety of specialized attack surfaces.

The portfolio includes expansive network, endpoint, application, and data deceptions designed to efficiently misdirect and reveal attacks from all threat vectors, and with the company’s advanced machine-learning, makes preparation, deployment, and operations fast and simple to operate for organizations of all sizes.

Comprehensive attack analysis and forensics provide actionable alerts, and native integrations that automate the blocking, quarantine, and threat hunting of attacks for accelerated incident response.

The company has won over 75 awards for its technology innovation and leadership. For more information, visit www.attivonetworks.com.