New 1898 & Co. Managed Threat Protection & Response to boost cybersecurity resilience for critical infrastructure

1898 & Co. introduced Wednesday its Managed Threat Protection and Response capability to strengthen cybersecurity across critical infrastructure environments. The service will provide accelerated protection against malicious threats and allow for quicker response times in case of an attack. It also maps the company’s OT (operational technology) and ICS (industrial control system) cybersecurity specialization into OT-focused managed security services. 

The 1898 & Co. service uses intelligence enrichment and insights gained from collective defense information sharing and leverages various indicators and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to provide 24×7 threat monitoring and detection, while also proactively hunting for possible intrusions within clients’ OT and ICS environments. The Kansas City, Missouri headquartered 1898 & Co. is the business, technology, and cybersecurity consulting arm of Burns & McDonnell, a fully employee-owned engineering, construction, and architecture firm.

Industry analysts note that incidents in critical infrastructure environments are inevitable, however, damage and fallout can be lessened through rapid detection and response capabilities. Additionally, regulatory measures continue to evolve in response to the heightened threats posed to critical infrastructure companies. 

1898 & Co. works with critical infrastructure operators to prepare, detect and respond to cyber-related impacts on safety and/or reliability, knowing that attacks are inevitable. The existing cyber environment of more sophisticated threats, shortage of talent, and increasing risk to shareholders is more challenging than ever, which is why ICS operators and critical infrastructure companies increasingly outsource security services. 

The company works to improve detection and response, handles the burden of 24/7 alerts and alarms, maintains ICS cybersecurity specialists to bridge the talent gap, matures cybersecurity programs, reduces the internal burden of maintaining highly specialized talent and equipment, and provides emergency incident response services.

For example, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop reliability standards requiring Internal Network Security Monitoring (INSM) standards. These new standards require power utilities to implement monitoring and detection and identify anomalous activity by way of regulatory mandate, a significant development for that industry.

“Cyber-related risk remains a top concern and consideration for every critical infrastructure company,” Matt Morris, managing director of Security & Risk Consulting, 1898 & Co., said in a media statement. “We continue to see increasing digitization, threats, and corresponding regulation. Given the increasing talent shortage, keeping critical processes operational is getting more and more complicated. As specialists who focus on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, we uniquely understand how these environments are designed, built and operated, and we have an unmatched team of engineers and consultants at our back.”

The new capability and MSS services from 1898 & Co. are currently available, and they leverage multiple on-premise monitoring and detection partner platforms, including Dragos, Claroty, and Armis, with a limited number of platforms expected to be added over time. The MSS provides active response through the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. The MSS service also provides additional value in OT asset discovery, inventory, and reporting including vulnerabilities and network topology mapping.

1898 & Co. has also collaborated with various information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs) to access various industry-specific indicators of compromise and tactics, techniques, and procedures. Initial affiliates include the E-ISAC (electric utilities) and WaterISAC (water utilities), with additional ISACs on the roadmap. 

This summer, 1898 & Co. will launch an upgraded, next-generation security operations center (SOC) for advanced protection and response.

Last June, 1898 & Co. joined the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Coalition (OT Cyber Coalition) as part of its initial membership expansion, along with ABS Group, Network Perception, and Waterfall Security Solutions. The addition of these companies to the Coalition demonstrated the growing importance of securing OT and the need for organizations to contribute meaningful solutions and capabilities that improve the security of critical infrastructure environments.

Anna Ribeiro

Industrial Cyber News Editor. Anna Ribeiro is a freelance journalist with over 14 years of experience in the areas of security, data storage, virtualization and IoT.