ECI has introduced its LightSEC cyber security solution for smart grid, designed to significantly bolster the safety and reliability of utility infrastructures and guarantee success in the fight against today's increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks. The utility tailored LightSEC is an integral part of ElastiGRID, ECI's complete solution for utilities and strategic industries, which also includes various packet-optical transport systems, a user-friendly network management system, various SDN applications (LightAPPS) and more.
ECI's cyber security solution leverages its strategic position in the network in order to reduce risks and avert threats. LightSEC was developed to be comprehensive, flexible and centralized. This ensures that utilities cope well with today's security challenges yet retain the ability to add security functions to protect against the newly developed threats of the future.
The utility tailored LightSEC solution is comprised of three major pillars:
ECI's Cyber Security Suite, a rich set of mature and innovative security functions developed in line with the needs of today's utilities: such as encryption, SCADA DPI, SCADA anomaly detection, big data cyber analytics and more. The suite incorporates optimized Check Point® network security functions and makes available a Next Generation Firewall, breakthrough Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and ICS/SCADA.
LightSEC-V, a comprehensive threat management platform that features an aggregated view of calculated threats from the entire cyber security suite. LightSEC-V also provides adaptive risk grading that correlates multiple security functions, such that the utility CSO can allocate its security experts more effectively according to the likely severity of the alert.
ECI's Mercury NFV solution, a flexible solution, based on a commercial off-the-shelf platform, which can be deployed as a plug-in blade (in ECI's Neptune product line) or as a stand-alone appliance. The NFV solution enables 'dynamic service function chaining' to optimize risk classification and adjust the chain of security functions required to neutralize any given threat.
"Attacks against utilities are becoming a strategic risk for countries and their populations. Just a few weeks ago a cyber-attack against the Ukraine caused a major power outage leaving manufacturing plants, businesses and homes without power for many hours. Cyber-attacks are becoming more diverse, intelligent and frequent. The LightSEC solution is meant to identify, analyze and neutralize such threats, while concurrently ensuring that it is 'business as usual' for the rest of the utility's system and its customers," said Yaron Bielous, VP Cyber Security Line of Business at ECI.
