Schneider Electric, Claroty release Cybersecurity Solutions for Buildings solution to reduce cyber, asset risks
Schneider Electric has partnered with Claroty to launch a solution that helps customers secure their building management systems (BMS) and protect their people, assets, and operations. Called Cybersecurity Solutions for Buildings, the joint solution integrates technology with Schneider Electric’s expertise and services to identify facility-wide assets, deliver risk and vulnerability management capabilities, and provide continuous threat monitoring to protect enterprise investments.
The Schneider-Claroty solution equips facility managers with a simple, vendor-agnostic solution, using which they can fulfill secure remote access, asset inventory, efficiency, and other related requirements from building owners and asset managers. In addition, the automated asset discovery and network mapping solution help with identifying and cataloging system assets, such as BMS, IoT, UPS, and power systems.
The Cybersecurity Solutions for Buildings covers asset discovery, risk assessment, remote access control, threat detection, and response. It gives building owners, facility operators, and security teams a simple solution without adding additional workload. The solution also identifies baseline risks that continually reduce both cyber and asset risks. It also detects and remediates threats in their environment before services are interrupted.
“The integration of IoT in buildings is sparking an exciting shift across the sector, but like with any innovation, it also presents new risks,” Annick Villeneuve, vice president of digital enterprise solutions at Schneider Electric, said in a media statement on Monday. “For threat actors looking to disrupt operations, benefit financially and/or achieve other objectives, and in so doing to put individuals at risk, buildings can appear to be the perfect target.”
Villeneuve added that it “is with this in mind that we are partnering with Claroty to bring our customers a comprehensive, industry-leading solution that meets the unique security and operational risks facing buildings of today and of the future.”
“When it comes to securing cyber-physical systems, including BMS, the number one priority is to keep physical processes operational and safe,” Keith Carter, vice president of worldwide channels and alliances at Claroty, said. “By fusing Claroty’s deep domain expertise and purpose-built technology with Schneider Electric’s renowned services and commitment to driving digital transformation globally, we are empowering our customers to reap the benefits of smart building technologies without increasing their exposure to cyber risk, thereby taking a profound step toward creating a more efficient, sustainable future for the world.”
As more and more IoT devices are deployed within the building’s space and increased connectivity between previously isolated operational technology (OT), BMS, and their IT counterparts, have made them attractive targets and vulnerable to cyberattacks. Additionally, facility managers oversee hundreds of vendors, service contractors, and technicians in a fragmented manner, increasing complexity and risk.
It has been assessed that 50 percent of today’s buildings are likely to be still in use by 2050. This is driving commercial buildings to digitize their assets, including modernizing their BMS. In fact, IoT technology for buildings is expected to grow from an existing 1.7 billion connected devices at the end of 2020 to over 3 billion by 2025. As these commercial buildings evolve into smart buildings of the future, they share at least one common trait of heightened exposure to risks.
The sector must address the security challenges presented by smart buildings. Studies have shown that 57 percent of IoT devices are vulnerable to medium or high-severity attacks. Cyberattacks have already harmed several businesses, including critical infrastructures such as hospitals, data centers, and hotels. The commercial building sector must find ways to safeguard both its access to the company’s IT systems as well as its mission-critical infrastructure.
The Schneider-Claroty solution delivers a continuous threat detection solution that constantly monitors buildings networks to identify, assess, and alert at the earliest indicators of network and asset level anomalies. It also allows vendors of smart building assets and systems to create external, secure tunnels to connect to and maintain specific resources and assets in the building network easily and without introducing additional risk.
The solution also provides dashboards and reporting capabilities to enable management and security teams to understand current situations, receive tailored recommendations, and drive the proper actions to reduce a building’s exposure to safety, operational, financial, and reputational risks.
The additional visibility and intelligence gained on the building OT and asset environment through the deployment of the Cybersecurity Solutions for Buildings solution bring additional benefits to the building owners and operators to enhance their building operational efficiency and productivity with actionable insights.
The Cybersecurity Solutions for Buildings offering provides a secure remote access (SRA) solution that is purpose-built for buildings and OT environments to increase building security when vendors, contractors, and technicians are performing remote maintenance activities.
Earlier this year, Honeywell and Acalvio Technologies released an integrated solution designed to detect known and unknown zero-day attacks across OT environments in commercial buildings. The new offering uses Acalvio deception technology that enables the deployment of an active defense approach that is primarily effective, easy to use, and enterprise scale.
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