New IIOT cybersecurity for distributed assets enables regulatory compliance and efficiency for utilities, energy, and other industrial operations

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Xage Security announces Xage Policy Manager, the first and only automated and decentralized cybersecurity solution to ensure the protection and regulatory compliance of critical infrastructure. Xage Policy Manager automatically enforces security across the devices, applications, and users that comprise industrial networks. Xage provides the required tamperproof foundation for the new wave of edge intelligence across utilities, energy, and other industrial operations by delivering automated security for distributed assets today, and new levels of efficiency and reliability for next-generation operations tomorrow.

To improve efficiency, core industries such as energy, manufacturing, transportation, and utilities are now digitized and connected from end-to-end. Distributed assets, from voltage controllers in the electrical grid to laptops, smartphones, and USB drives used by field technicians, represent the vast majority of exposed industrial assets. This has put critical infrastructure at higher security risk, as demonstrated through increasing, severe attacks . Accordingly, the government is recognizing that the components compromising critical infrastructure must be rigorously protected. For example, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the latest modifications to the Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC-CIP) standards, firming up requirements for the numerous, smaller-scale systems and distributed components that comprise the majority of the electrical grid.

“Industrial organizations are heavily reliant on legacy systems, unmanaged passwords, and unprotected control protocols,” says Duncan Greatwood, CEO of Xage. “Achieving regulatory compliance and system protection quickly is a challenge due to the massive scale and dispersed nature of industrial operations. With diverse infrastructure and thousands of distributed devices, there is an urgent need for a new cybersecurity solution with automatic system-wide protection and enforcement.”

Xage Policy Manager enables secure industrial operations that are compliant with cybersecurity standards as they continue to emerge. It is the first autonomous, single-dashboard solution to manage and enforce security requirements for the distributed devices, applications, and users that comprise industrial networks. Features include: 

  • Automated Cybersecurity and Compliance – Automatically replicate security requirements across large numbers of devices utilizing Xage’s field-wide, blockchain-protected security fabric. Set and rotate complex passwords according to centrally-defined timetables and policies. Ensure compliance with emerging standards for critical infrastructure.
  • Existing Network Protection without Modification – Deploy to and integrate with existing assets without modifying them. Detect new or transient devices and control accessibility based on the device and its user’s role. Defend against malware by exposing non-conformant systems.
  • Single Dashboard Control – Manage and enforce security requirements for all components that comprise your industrial network across the field from within a single dashboard.
  • Increased Efficiency and Reliability – Enhance distributed edge intelligence with human-to-machine, app-to-machine, and machine-to-machine cooperation and apply smart AI control of field applications protected with  Xage’s tamperproof, foundational cybersecurity fabric.

"Our electric power system is being reborn before our eyes with the proliferation of new technologies at the edge of the grid,” said Steven H. Parker, President of EnergySec. “Innovative security approaches, such as blockchain technologies, are needed to ensure appropriate protection can be provided to millions of new devices connected to the system.”

About Xage The Xage Security Suite is the first and only blockchain-protected security platform for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). Xage creates the essential trusted foundation for secure interactions between machines, people, and data. Advancing beyond traditional security models, Xage distributes authentication and private data across the network of devices, creating a tamper-proof  “fabric” for communication, authentication and trust that ensures security at scale. Xage supports any-to-any communication, secures access to existing industrial systems, underpins continuous edge-computing operations even in the face of irregular connectivity, and gets stronger and stronger with every device added to the network. Xage customers include leaders in the largest industries, spanning energy, utilities, transportation and manufacturing.

Media Contact LaunchSquad for Xage xage@launchsquad.com 415-625-8555