Open Systems Introduces OT Firewall to Secure Critical Infrastructures and IIoT


Open Systems, a leader in managed secure access service edge (SASE) services, is bringing to market the Open Systems OT Firewall, a dedicated appliance at the center of operational technology (OT) networks for better visibility and control of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic, enabling fast detection and remediation of malicious activity.

Many manufacturing organizations are adopting IIoT as part of Industry 4.0 strategies – i.e., integrating intelligent digital technologies into manufacturing and industrial processes—increasing the risk of a breach in their OT environment. 

According to a 2022 survey conducted by SCADAfence, 76% of OT experts believe that their OT security risk level is high or severe. 

“According to our research, 83% of network teams are aware of OT and IoT devices and sensors connecting to their enterprise networks, and 43% of NetOps pros say IoT and OT are major drivers of overall network strategy,” said Shamus McGillicuddy, Vice President of Research at Enterprise Management Associates. “This mainstream adoption of OT and IoT devices on IT networks means that a robust OT security strategy is no longer a nice-to-have – it needs to be a top priority for organizations.” 

Open Systems OT Firewall also includes technical support from Open Systems’ expert team to help customers successfully implement thorough network segmentation on the OT firewall. OT segmentation is then easily managed using simple policy and zoning concepts. 

Dirk Theissen, Enterprise IT Security Architect at GEA, said: “With the growing need to get information from production environments like sensor data, ensuring a secure OT environment has become crucial. By implementing Open Systems OT Firewall, we have the security we need with a 24×7 managed service from Open Systems. We appreciate the trusted partnership with Open Systems when working on securing critical infrastructure.”

“Most organizations don’t have full visibility into their OT environments. In many cases, a threat can be detected when traffic is leaving the facility out to the internet, but it could be too late at that point,” said Stefan Keller, Chief Product Officer at Open Systems. “Organizations need to bring visibility into their OT environments.”

Additional resources:

White paper: https://go.open-systems.com/Modern-OT-Environments.html 

Webinar: https://info.enterprisemanagement.com/securing-modern-operational-techn-networks-webinar-ws

Open Systems OT Firewall: https://www.open-systems.com/sase/ot-firewall


Follow Brilliance Security Magazine on Twitter and LinkedIn to ensure you receive alerts for the most up-to-date security and cybersecurity news and information.