Operant - Data-Centric Security Solution for Operational Technology
Operant has pioneered a comprehensive data-centric security solution specifically tailored for Operational Technology (OT), diverging from conventional point-to-point and perimeter-based cybersecurity methods. This approach comprehensively encrypts, authenticates, and validates every data packet, ensuring robust end-to-end security across varied network topologies, including IT, OT, and IoT systems. Unlike traditional methods that often involve complicated fail-over mechanisms, Operant's solution facilitates seamless multi-path communications and compatibility with legacy systems by establishing trust for each communication link and packet through public key cryptography. This innovative framework, influenced by Named Data Networking (NDN), supports resilient and secure data transmissions without compromising network performance. As acknowledged by the US Department of Energy’s Solar Futures Study, Operant's technology significantly enhances the cybersecurity landscape by operating under Zero Trust principles, enabling OEMs to provide inherently secure and competitive systems.
It’s common to think of connections as point-to-point, but in the real world they seldom are. Data traverses multiple VPNs, servers, and firewalls as it moves from the field to an operations center. Likewise, most security tools were developed for securing point-to-point infrastructure and network perimeters. Thus, cyber solutions end up stitched together between handoffs requiring an intricate coordination of data decryption/re-encryption, ongoing configurations, and key management in a best-effort attempt to prevent breaches. The end result is often an entangled assortment of solutions with marginal effectiveness.
- Allows for multi-path communications without the need for complex fail-over controls as found in IT solutions
- Can connect over ‘any link that can pass bit’, making it easy to deploy, even in complex legacy systems
- Segmentation where communications are only visible to trusted parties. Assisting with IT/OT/IoT convergence.
- Each data packet is signed, encrypted, and authenticated. Allowing for each transaction to be authenticated