Waterfall Security Solutions, the OT security company, and Alstom, the global leader in smart and green mobility have partnered to provide the rail industry with unbreachable cybersecurity through Waterfall’s Unidirectional Gateway products.
Rail system digitalization is yielding unprecedented efficiency gains and customer service improvements. Eddy Thésée, VP Cybersecurity at Alstom, explains the consequences of this digitization is resulting in a need to communicate between zones with different levels of security and criticality. Unidirectional gateways are the best way to achieve this communication safely.
“We believe that unidirectional gateways are necessary in public transportation”
Rail Security Standards
Industrial security standards such as IEC 62443 and TS-50701 position unidirectional gateways as superior to firewalls, and thus a better fit for protecting connections between zones with different levels of criticality.
How A Unidirectional Gateway Works
Unidirectional gateways are a plug-n-play solution replacing one layer of firewalls in an industrial network environment, typically between IT and OT environments. Unlike firewalls, Waterfall’s Unidirectional Gateway products are a combination of hardware and software. The hardware is physically able to send information in only one direction: usually from a high-criticality network to a lower-criticality network. The unidirectionality of Waterfall’s Unidirectional Gateways is physically enforced, in the gateway hardware. Customers can be confident of the unidirectionality of Waterfall’s gateways because the products are Common Criteria certified to be unidirectional with a high degree of confidence, even in the face of the most sophisticated nation-state and organized crime attacks possible.
“In the rail industry you are responsible for tens of thousands of lives per day, their safety is the most important thing.”
Cybersecurity and Safety
Cybersecurity in vital networks is a precondition for safety. Mobility experts at Alstom are providing valuable insights about pain points of rail industry, enabling Waterfall to continually improve and provide the best cybersecurity solutions. Waterfall’s Unidirectional Gateways and surrounding suite of products allow Alstom and the rail industry to reap the benefits of digitization, without endangering critical operation networks.
PR: Waterfall Announces Cybersecurity Partnership With Alstom>>
