Siemens, McAfee team up to address industrial cybersecurity

The partnership is intended to develop new manufacturing data security solutions.

By Bob Vavra, Content Manager April 9, 2014

When people discuss cybersecurity, the first vision is of covert activity, hacking into systems and NSA-era network intrusions. The real cybersecurity threats are more often the proliferation of handheld and tablet devices over less-secure Internet systems designed to handle not just company data, but also the myriad of sites available on the Web.

When it comes to manufacturing, both issues deserve attention. A new partnership between one of the world’s largest industrial automation companies and one of the most recognized names in network security has been launched to bring attention to both aspects of system and data security for manufacturing.

Siemens announced April 7 it will partner with McAfee, a division of Intel Security, to develop a global system security solution for manufacturing data. "Industrial customers face unique new challenges including a wider range of cyber threats than ever before. They often lack the resources necessary to respond efficiently to security incidents and do not have access to the global threat intelligence that would allow proactive defensive measures," the two companies said in a press release in conjunction with the Siemens press conference at Hannover Messe in Germany. "This critical information is needed in order to keep up with evolving government regulations, industry standards, sector specific best practices, and other risk information necessary for making informed business decisions."

The solution to be developed by the two companies will address firewall protection, improved data security, and management as part of Siemens’ Managed Security Service offering.

"McAfee’s broad portfolio of security technologies can serve as a great enabler of Siemens Industrial Security service offerings," said Siegfried Russwurm, CEO of Siemens’ Industry Sector. "Industrial security is one of the building blocks for strong demand of connected manufacturing environments, and for the continued resurgence of the manufacturing sector globally. This partnership will be an important foundation for the future of manufacturing and Industry 4.0."

"By combining forces, McAfee, Intel and Siemens can drive the adoption of connected, managed and secured solutions at the plant level in order to help industrial customers to manage their security while bringing the uptime and reliability of the plant operations to a higher level," said Michael Fey, worldwide chief technology officer at McAfee.

Plant Engineering will be providing daily coverage of the Hannover Messe conference at plantengineering.com.