New Thales cybersecurity solution for industrial networks

KEY POINTS

  • Industrial network security has become an issue of national sovereignty.
  • Thales has expanded its portfolio of IT security solutions for the civil market with the ELIPS-SD network diode, designed to protect the information systems of essential operators.
  • Recommended by ANSSI, the French Network and Information Security Agency, in its cybersecurity guidelines for industrial systems. 

​Thales has added the ELIPS-SD unidirectional security gateway for civil operators to its portfolio of Security By Design solutions. The ELIPS-SD gateway is a network diode designed to secure the industrial networks of essential operators and sensitive industries. Interconnected information systems and the constantly evolving cyberthreat environment have made industrial network security an issue of national sovereignty.

Already used extensively in the defence sector to protect classified networks, ELIPS-SD allows one-way flows of data between networks with different levels of security or sensitivity.

ELIPS-SD now incorporates the ModBus TCP protocol[1] to allow industrial systems to be safely interconnected with management information systems. This makes it possible to monitor production at an industrial facility and supervise system status in real time with no risk of intrusion into the sensitive network. Compliant with the recommendations of ANSSI, the French Network and Information Security Agency, the ELIPS-SD diode is considered one of the keys to effective protection of critical industrial architectures.

Under a partnership agreement signed with Thales in 2013, Schneider Electric was involved in the design of ELIPS-SD and is the leading integrator of the product for industrial customers. Thales and Schneider Electric are members of the ANSSI working group on cybersecurity for industrial systems and have combined their expertise to offer tailored solutions to protect industrial information systems with the highest levels of security.

 

[1] ModBus TCP: Communication protocol used for networks of programmable logic controllers

Note to editors
ELIPS-SD: interconnection of critical networks
ELIPS-SD makes it possible to interconnect critical networks by enabling one-way transfers of data with assured protection from network intrusions and information leakage in the opposite direction. It is fully compliant with national and international requirements for interconnection of sensitive systems. The security diode meets a range of operational needs:

- Production monitoring
- Supervision of industrial networks
- Multi-sensor interconnection

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