Symantec Unveils Industry’s First Neural Network to Protect Critical Infrastructure From Cyber Warfare
December 05 2018 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Symantec Industrial Control System Protection
Neural to defend against USB-borne malware, network intrusion and
zero-day attacks on operational technology
Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world’s leading cyber
security company, today introduced Industrial Control System
Protection (ICSP) Neural, the industry’s first neural
network-integrated USB scanning station that helps organizations
protect critical infrastructure by preventing the devastating
physical consequences of cyber-attacks on operational technology
(OT).
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the full release here:
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Symantec's ICSP Neural, an innovative
industry first. (Photo: Business Wire)
OT is mission-critical in industries such as energy, oil and
gas, manufacturing, and transportation, but legacy systems are
often outdated and nearly impossible to secure with traditional
endpoint security. Companies have typically relied on unscanned USB
devices to update these systems, increasing the potential for
malware infection and targeted attacks.
The threat of cyber warfare – including physical damage and
personal safety – is very real and the consequences are potentially
devastating. Despite this, the industrial control systems that
power critical infrastructure often run on outdated Windows systems
leaving them vulnerable to both known and unknown threats. For
example, the infamous Symantec-discovered Stuxnet worm used
USB-based malware to manipulate centrifuges in Iranian nuclear
plants – ultimately sabotaging a key part of the country’s nuclear
program. To help combat this type of threat, the U.S. government
elevated its Cyber Command to a full combatant command in May
2018.
Symantec ICSP Neural utilizes artificial intelligence to prevent
known and unknown attacks on IoT and OT environments by detecting
and providing protection against malware on USB devices. ICSP
Neural stations scan, detect USB-borne malware, and sanitize the
devices. Existing ICSP deployments have shown that up to 50 percent
of scanned USB devices are infected with malware.
“USB devices are given away at events, shared between
co-workers, and reused again and again for business and personal
use, introducing the risk of accidental or malicious infection. The
impact of connecting an infected device to a critical system can be
devastating,” said Patrick Gardner, senior vice president, advanced
threat protection and email security, Symantec. “Behind the scenes,
ICSP Neural will retrofit existing infrastructure with a central
nervous system to provide protection for critical infrastructure.
On the front end, a rugged aluminum design embodies a simple,
intuitive user experience that clearly highlights potential
threats.”
Better security through simplicity
Simplifying the scanning process is critical to overall security
hygiene, as operational technology environments are often in remote
areas or field operations, far removed from an organization’s IT
teams. As such, the ICSP Neural scanning process is simple,
requiring no specific security or IT training. Once connected, ICSP
Neural emits visualizations and real-time signals through the LED
light ring that indicate when malware has been detected and
sanitized.
Provides protection against the most advanced threats
The Symantec-designed neural engine harnesses the power of
Symantec’s world-class threat intelligence network to increase
detection efficacy by up to 15 percent. It also detects adversarial
machine learning attempts and initiates self-learning to provide
protection against unknown threats. The AI-powered technology can
learn in real-time, leading to sustained efficacy with limited
internet connectivity – up to twice as long. These artificial
intelligence and organic self-adaption capabilities can protect
organizations against emerging and future attacks. The neural
engine enables high-intensity detection with near-zero false
positives (as low as one hundredth of a percent)*. These
capabilities are accomplished using just a tenth of the bandwidth
of other similar solutions – an indispensable feature for systems
using VSAT connections.
ICSP Neural supports a full range of OT and IoT devices and
systems. The optional enforcement process prevents use of unscanned
USBs with less than a 5MB installation footprint and can be
deployed on operating systems from Windows XP to Windows 10 (Linux
support is planned in 2019).
As part of the Integrated Cyber Defense strategy, ICSP Neural
complements the latest version of Symantec’s Critical System
Protection (CSP) software; a flexible and compact behavioral
security engine built with application whitelisting, infused with
anti-exploits for managed or standalone devices. CSP 8.0 provides a
no-internet, policy-based approach to endpoint security, securing
devices from known and unknown zero-day exploits and attacks, even
on legacy operating systems.
Symantec’s ICSP Neural is available for pre-order now and is
expected to ship in early 2019. For more information visit:
symantec.com/iot
*Based on internal tests of in-field malware samples.
About Symantec
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world's leading cyber
security company, helps organizations, governments and people
secure their most important data wherever it lives. Organizations
across the world look to Symantec for strategic, integrated
solutions to defend against sophisticated attacks across endpoints,
cloud and infrastructure. Likewise, a global community of more than
50 million people and families rely on Symantec's Norton and
LifeLock product suites to protect their digital lives at home and
across their devices. Symantec operates one of the world's largest
civilian cyber intelligence networks, allowing it to see and
protect against the most advanced threats. For additional
information, please visit www.symantec.com or connect
with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181205005165/en/
Nicole MurphySymantec650-527-8000Nicole_murphy@symantec.com
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