January 22, 2008 - RuggedCom and Industrial Defender announced a strategic partnership to jointly provide the industry's most comprehensive cyber security solution that addresses the needs of many industrial applications including those found electric power, transportation, oil and gas, water and chemical.
In particular, with North American electric utility customers facing mandatory NERC-CIP compliance by mid-2008 (which are now enforceable due to the recent January 17 FERC approval of the NERC-CIP standards), the combined technology solutions by RuggedCom and Industrial Defender provide the unique benefit of delivering an integrated solution for compliance.
RuggedCom offers industry-leading rugged communications networking infrastructure products for environments requiring hardened specifications including the electrical substation environment, as well as RuggedCom Gauntlet a user authentication solution for the electric power market that provides secure access to critical cyber assets.
Industrial Defender provides network security professional services, cyber security technology and managed security services that enables a comprehensive Defense in Depth approach to cyber security.
“Mandatory NERC-CIP compliance deadlines are forcing electric power companies to ensure the most critical elements of their systems meet stringent security requirements on an abbreviated timeframe,” said Marzio Pozzuoli, President and CEO of RuggedCom. “Our partnership with Industrial Defender enables us to deliver our technology with an increased level of cyber security, providing customers with a more comprehensive and complete solution.”
“Working with RuggedCom provides customers with a completely integrated and easier roadmap to NERC-CIP compliance for their critical cyber assets,“ said Brian M. Ahern, president and CEO of Industrial Defender. “Joining forces with the global leader in hardened network infrastructure products extends Industrial Defender’s Defense-in-Depth technology offering through the seamless integration of RuggedCom devices within the Industrial Defender Security Event Management (SEM) console; while now also enabling a managed security service offering for global RuggedCom products.”
The combined offering includes the following key integrated solution components:
Industrial Defender network professional services and managed security services with proven experience and expertise enabling customers to meet NERC-CIP assessment and other industry specific security requirements and standards
RuggedCom hardened network infrastructure products for harsh environments, including electrical substations (routers, switches, serial servers, wireless devices, media converters)
RuggedCom Gauntlet for user authentication, access control and logging, and specific NERC CIP reporting and audit tools
Industrial Defender's Defense-in-Depth cyber security monitoring and management through the company's Security Event Management (SEM) console
RuggedCom has also enrolled in the Industrial Defender Enabled Premier Partner program, a new program designed to match technology providers with Industrial Defender's cyber security solutions for the real-time process control and SCADA market. RuggedCom continues to seek partnerships with industry leading companies in order to provide high value-added solutions to our customers.
About RuggedCom Inc.:
RuggedCom is a leading provider of rugged communications networking solutions designed for mission-critical applications in harsh environments. RuggedCom's technology solutions include Ethernet switches, network routers, wireless devices, serial servers, media converters, software and professional services. RuggedCom's products are designed for use in harsh environments such as those found in electrical power substations and “Smart Grids,” intelligent transportation systems, industrial process control and military applications.
About Industrial Defender, Inc.
Industrial Defender, Inc., the global leader in Cyber Risk Protection, is the first company to offer a completely integrated cyber security solution designed to protect the real-time process control and SCADA environment in a flexible and cost effective platform. This comprehensive Cyber Risk Protection Lifecycle solution enables the efficient assessment, mitigation and management of cyber security risk within the critical infrastructure network domain. Formerly known as Verano, Inc., Industrial Defender is a privately held company with over 16 years of real-time process control and SCADA industry experience, more than 1,700 global deployments in securing critical infrastructure systems and more than 3,000 mission critical SCADA deployments.
