Achilles Vulnerability Assessment Platform is billed as the first automated, comprehensive testing product for systematically assessing network stack robustness and locating zero-day vulnerability in industrial control devices.  

Security appliance  

In another session, Eric Byres, chief executive officer of industrial security consultants Byres Security, in Lantzville, British Columbia, Canada, discussed his company’s soon-to-be-released Tofino Industrial Security Solution. As part of what Byres calls a “defense-in-depth” approach to security, the Tofino “appliance” is designed to provide an additional layer of security within the control system environment against hackers or viruses that may penetrate a company’s perimeter firewall and other defenses.  

The Tofino device can be thought of as a combination personal firewall and intrusion detection system for operator stations, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), Digital Control Systems (DCS) and other devices, says literature for the product. “Plug a Tofino appliance onto the control network in front of a PLC, DCS or HMI (human-machine interface) station and it learns what type of device it needs to protect, looks up the device’s vulnerabilities in a central database and then tunes itself to protect that specific device.”  

Byres said the Tofino will undergo beta testing at six companies until July, and general availability will come soon after that. List price for the appliance device will be in the $1,000 to $1,200 range, while Tofino software modules such as firewall, virtual private network and others will go for about $200 each, he said.  

Digital Bond
www.digitalbond.com 

Entergy Corp
www.entergy.com 

Idaho National Laboratory
www.inel.gov 

Sandia National Laboratories
www.sandia.gov 

Process Control Systems Forum
www.pcsforum.org 

U.S. Department of Energy
www.energy.gov 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
www.dhs.gov 

Wurldtech
www.wurldtech.com