Bedrock releases Bedrock SCADA Security Platform Specification for OPC UA

February 6, 2018 – Bedrock Automation has published an interface specification that enables users and application developers to take advantage of the security capabilities of OPC UA communications software. By following the simple procedures outlined in the Bedrock SCADA Security Platform Specification, developers can upgrade any OPC UA compliant client into a secure OPC UA channel, across which users can exchange data between plant floor operations and SCADA applications. Three SCADA software developers, Inductive Automation, ICONICS and TATSOFT, are committing and releasing support to the Bedrock interface specification.

Bedrock designs and sources its own secure semiconductor components with encryption and authentication technologies embedded at the “birth” of their modules, assembled and tested by Bedrock in their cyber secure supply chain.  The unique design then draws on the power and flexibility of public key infrastructure (PKI) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) standards similar to those used to secure ecommerce transactions and military and aerospace electronics. Bedrock Automation then uses those securely embedded keys as the basis for digital certificates that manage access and communication between SCADA applications and control systems. Bedrock Cybershield 3.0 firmware is the first control system to offer an embedded PKI for SCADA applications.

A software developer building an open communications environment with OPC UA might deploy a Bedrock OSA system as a PLC to control a process based on input from field devices. To secure communications between their SCADA applications and the control system the developer will utilize the Bedrock Cloud SaaS to generate a SCADA certificate. After verifying the identity of the requester, the Bedrock CA issues that certificate which authorizes the SCADA to access encrypted data on the PLC. The Bedrock interface specification – in 30 pages – provides everything a developer needs to secure the communications.

Enhanced capability to implement Bedrock and secure OPC UA for SCADA applications is available with the Bedrock Cybershield 3.0 upgrade, which will be announced at the ARC Forum on February 12, 2018. Cybershield 3.0 will be standard in all Bedrock systems and available to Cybershield 2.0 users as a free upgrade in Q2 2018. Developers wishing to review the OPC UA Interface specification should contact Bedrock Automation.

About Bedrock Automation

Bedrock Automation, based in San Jose, California, is the maker of Bedrock, a secure automation platform.  This Silicon Valley company has assembled the latest technologies and talents from the automation, cyber security and semiconductor industries to build an unprecedented automation solution for industrial control based on three prime directives: simplicity, scalability and security. The result is a new platform of automation called OSA, Open Secure Automation, with an electromagnetic backplane architecture and deeply embedded ICS cyber security. 

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