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SEATTLE – July 13, 2011. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today announced that its next-generation firewalls and UTMs with Application Control now include protective supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) signatures. These SCADA signatures now enable WatchGuard XTM and legacy e-Series security appliances to provide advanced threat protection for industrial control systems that monitor and control industrial, infrastructure or facility-based networks.

Major market trends are driving the need to extend enterprise network security and protection to operational technologies. Many operational technology (OT) networks are converging with information technology (IT) networks. For example, as infrastructure power grids become "smart," they also stand exposed to similar vulnerabilities that target IP-based business networks.

"Historically, OT networks ran autonomously or were completely disconnected from IT protection and control," said Tim Helming, Director of Product Management at WatchGuard. "However, as OT and IT networks converge, legacy OT networks become vulnerable to hackers and viruses. Now, WatchGuard is providing the same levels of advanced intrusion prevention, malware protection and granular management used in enterprise environments to secure key industrial and infrastructure networks."

Infrastructure Attacks – A New Era in Targeted Malware

Publicity around the extremely sophisticated Stuxnet worm over the last year has raised awareness of the need to protect critical infrastructure. Infrastructure malware is nothing new, and by itself, Stuxnet does little harm to typical PCs and business networks. It is a worm that targets industrial software and equipment that falsifies industrial process control sensor signals.

What makes Stuxnet stand out is the level and sophistication of which it targets its victims. Stuxnet marks a new era of highly sophisticated, extremely targeted malware, and in this case, specific to a small group of industrial systems. It portends a new wave of attacks targeted to OT networks, ranging from citywide electrical power grids, traffic monitoring systems down to individual facility HVAC systems.

As OT and IT networks converge, WatchGuard predicts next-generation firewalls will become the predominate solution of choice for protecting legacy OT networks.

WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service – Key to Stopping Hackers

WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service (IPS) is a fully integrated security subscription for all WatchGuard XTM appliances. It works in tandem with the application layer content inspection of the XTM to provide real-time protection against network threats, including spyware, SQL injections, cross-site scripting, and buffer overflows. IPS scans tra¬ffic on all major protocols, using continually updated signatures to detect and block all types of threats.

With it, administrators can monitor, manage and protect OT networks side-by-side with their existing IT networks. This helps reduce cost, eliminate redundancies and streamline OT and IT security management.