Siemens debuts security testing suite for industrial networks

IT and OT networks in manufacturing are converging, and with this evolution comes rising cybersecurity concerns unique to both IT and OT. Legal requirements also are forcing industrial companies to enhance cybersecurity in their processes. To address this market demand, Siemens has grown its cybersecurity solution portfolio and launched an all-in-one testing suite for industrial communication networks, the SINEC Security Inspector.

SINEC Security Inspector is a software framework for active one-time scanning that allows network devices, network segments or the entire network infrastructure to be scanned during maintenance time windows. It brings together a selection of security tools which are integrated into a single user interface.

“Siemens SINEC Security Inspector brings a unique enhanced testing solution to the shop floor and enables customers to check their entire IT/OT environment, including all individual components.” Michael Metzler, VP of horizontal management cybersecurity for digital industries at Siemens, said in a release. “Customers can promptly discover risks and potential hazards which puts them in a position to swiftly mitigate cyber vulnerabilities. This results in an enormously reduced effort when inspecting industrial networks.”

See also: CEA-List, Siemens team on research to expand digital twin applications

As factories increasingly have different machine providers using vast vendor variety, manufacturers are faced with several challenges in terms of network security in their plants: asset identification and detection, compliance checks, malware scans and vulnerability checks. With SINEC Security Inspector all of these can be addressed.

SINEC Security Inspector has been designed as an open framework, according to a Siemens release. Besides offering security tools developed by Siemens, it also contains tools for vulnerability management provided by the cybersecurity company Tenable. More internal and third-party testing tools also will be added to cover more test cases in future.

“With industrial companies transforming into digital enterprises, the importance of cybersecurity has grown tremendously in the last years,” Metzler said. “As a reaction, the SINEC Security Inspector was initially developed to scan our own factories for vulnerabilities in networks. After years of testing and improving this tool, it is now just right for protecting any industrial and manufacturing environment.”