Palo Alto Networks Moves Into Protecting Industrial Systems With Ruggedised Next Gen Firewalls

Palo Alto Networks® (NYSE: PANW), the next-generation security company, has announced the introduction of its ruggedized PA-220R next-generation firewall. This new NGFW appliance is designed to prevent successful cyberattacks in the network environments of industrial control systems, or ICS, and supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems. The PA-220R meets required performance and reliability standards for operating in demanding industrial settings, such as utility substations, power plants and factory floors.

Organizations are evolving their understanding about the need to improve industrial cybersecurity. In their annual survey, Securing Industrial Control Systems, SANS Institute reports that the number of organizations perceiving the level of threat to control systems as “critical” or “high” increased by 26 percent to 69 percent in 2017. Protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks poses unique challenges because the environments can be harsh, and systems often use specialized protocols. Advanced IT technologies in ICS and SCADA environments must often be connected to external networks, increasing exposure to risk and requiring sophisticated cybersecurity to ensure that successful cyberattacks are prevented.

Palo Alto Networks can now better prevent successful cyberattacks on customers in ICS/SCADA environments with its new PA-220R NGFW. The new ruggedized NGFW has been designed to operate reliably in environments with extreme temperatures, humidity, dust, vibration and electromagnetic interference, using the PAN-OS® operating system to deliver granular, ICS-specific traffic visibility, network segmentation, and integrated threat prevention to industrial networks in harsh environments. These enhancements provide enterprise-class cybersecurity capabilities that safely enable operational technology, or OT, modernization.

QUOTES

• “We have worked with Palo Alto Networks for the last ten years because it has simplified our perimeter security while improving visibility within our IT environment. With the introduction of the PA-220R, we can now extend these capabilities to our OT deployments and within our exploration, production and processing assets, even in locations with harsh environments. Because the underlying technology is the same, we now have a unified, centrally managed security architecture across the plant floor, corporate networks, and even the industrial cloud.”
  • Mario Chiock, CISO emeritus and fellow, Schlumberger 

• “Critical infrastructure operators have the challenging task of addressing the rapid digital transformation in OT and a rising threat and regulatory landscape specific to ICS. Even assets in remote locations are starting to be attacked and regulated. The PA-220R is a comprehensive security product that allows owner operators to more easily meet their regulatory obligations and stop cyberthreats from compromising critical processes and safety within OT.”
  • Steve Parker, president, EnergySec 

• “ICS systems are being modernized to be more efficient through the use of more advanced IT technologies, often increasing exposure to attacks. Better industrial cybersecurity offerings are required to safely enable OT modernization; and the new Palo Alto Networks PA-220R next-generation firewall optimizes the ICS-specific security that we already provide to our customers, now for deployment in the harshest of industrial environments and remote locations.”
  • Lee Klarich, chief product officer, Palo Alto Networks

AVAILABILITY

The PA-220R will be orderable on February 26 starting at $2,900.

LEARN MORE:

• PA-220R Next-Generation Firewall
• Operational Technology Modernization
• Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform
• Read the Blog: Introducing the Ruggedized PA-220R Next-generation Firewall
• Follow Palo Alto Networks online: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook