Honeywell has expanded its Operational Technology (OT) Cybersecurity Suite, introducing new tools designed to safeguard industrial systems from a rising tide of sophisticated cyber threats. This enhanced suite offers advanced capabilities to protect critical infrastructure, streamline security compliance, and help organizations remain proactive in countering complex cyber-attacks.
As cyber threats targeting operational technology assets grow in frequency and complexity, The World Economic Forum's annual Global Cybersecurity Outlook reports that only a small percentage of organizations with industrial environments actively monitor their systems and maintain dedicated security teams.
Honeywell's updated suite assists industrial companies in adopting a robust, unified cybersecurity approach, moving beyond reactive security measures towards comprehensive cyber resilience.
Addressing Critical Threats
As cyber threats targeting operational technology assets grow in frequency and complexity
"The cybersecurity landscape for industrial organizations continues to evolve rapidly, with increasingly advanced threats targeting critical operations," stated Jim Masso, President and CEO of Honeywell Process Automation. Masso emphasized the importance of a unified cybersecurity strategy spanning both digital and physical environments, as it lays the groundwork for operational resilience while mitigating potentially hazardous and costly attacks.
The expanded OT Cybersecurity Suite integrates five new tools that enhance the platform's current offerings, aiming to protect critical infrastructure and reduce operational risks:
Innovative Cybersecurity Features
Secure Media Exchange (SMX) Portable Scanner: Aiming to shield industrial facilities from threats via USBs and other removable media, the SMX Portable Scanner is a specialized cyber-physical solution. Equipped with advanced anti-virus and threat intelligence, it provides in-depth inspection of storage devices, Windows-based systems, and air-gapped networks, thereby minimizing malware risks.
Cyber Proactive Defense (CPD): This AI-powered monitoring solution caters explicitly to OT environments threatened by sophisticated cyber-attacks. Utilizing advanced analytics, CPD offers real-time monitoring, correlating alerts across various process tools to deliver actionable insights. This enables organizations to preemptively identify, prioritize, and neutralize threats before they escalate and disrupt critical functions.
Efficiency and Security Enhancements
Cyber Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC): Facilitating compliance management, the Cyber GRC automates the process of collecting evidence and generating audit reports using AI and machine learning. It reduces the time and effort spent on manual compliance tasks, enhancing transparency into an organization's security posture.
Data Diode: This tool is crucial for securely managing sensitive data flows in industrial settings, enabling unidirectional data transfer to isolate critical systems and uphold high security standards.
OT Security Operations Center (SOC): Offering network and endpoint monitoring as a managed service, the OT SOC grants organizations the expertise and resources needed for swift incident response. Its 24/7 monitoring capabilities and vendor-agnostic platform enhance operational continuity by reducing asset downtime during incidents.
Honeywell's comprehensive update to its OT Cybersecurity Suite is now available and suited for deployment across various sectors, including manufacturing, energy, and critical infrastructure.
Honeywell announces the expansion of its Operational Technology (OT) Cybersecurity Suite, delivering advanced, proactive protection for industrial environments facing an accelerating wave of sophisticated cyber threats. The enhanced portfolio integrates powerful new capabilities designed to defend critical infrastructure, streamline security compliance, and assist organizations to stay ahead of increasingly complex attacks.
Cyber-attacks against operational technology assets continue to grow in both frequency and sophistication, however, according to The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Cybersecurity Outlook, only 32% of organizations with industrial environments actively monitor OT systems and just 20% maintain dedicated OT security teams. Recognizing these risks, Honeywell’s OT Cybersecurity Suite equips industrial companies to move beyond reactive security models and adopt a unified, forward-looking approach to cyber resilience.
Targeting critical operations
“The cybersecurity landscape for industrial organizations continues to evolve rapidly, with increasingly advanced threats targeting critical operations,” said Jim Masso, President and CEO of Honeywell Process Automation. “Organizations with a unified cybersecurity strategy across both digital and physical environments are setting a solid foundation for operational resilience while also avoiding potentially dangerous and costly attacks.”
Honeywell’s expanded OT cybersecurity suite includes five new capabilities that build on the platform’s current offerings to protect critical infrastructure and minimize operational risk:
Secure Media Exchange (SMX) Portable Scanner: SMX is a specialized cyber-physical solution designed to protect industrial facilities and critical infrastructure from threats carried in on USBs and other removable media devices. Powered by advanced anti-virus and industry-leading threat intelligence, the new SMX Portable Scanner enables deep inspection of storage devices, Windows-based machines and air-gapped systems, reducing the risk of malware entering critical environments and disrupting supply chains.
Delivering actionable insights
Cyber Proactive Defense (CPD): CPD is a next generation AI-powered monitoring solution purpose-built for Operational Technology (OT) environments facing increasingly more sophisticated cyber-attacks. Using advanced analytics and real-time monitoring, it correlates alerts across process and automation tools to deliver actionable insights, enabling organizations to proactively identify, prioritise, and mitigate threats before they escalate into full-scale attacks and impact critical operations.
Cyber Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC): Streamlining compliance management, Cyber GRC automates evidence collection and audit reporting through AI and machine learning capabilities. The software reduces administrative burden by transforming weeks of manual effort into hours while providing greater visibility into security posture.
High security standards
Data Diode: Protecting sensitive data flows is paramount in industrial environments. Honeywell’s data diode allows for secure, unidirectional data transfer, helping isolate critical systems and maintain high security standards in OT domains.
OT Security Operations Center (SOC): As a managed service for network and endpoint monitoring, the OT SOC equips organizations with the expertise and resources needed to respond swiftly to incidents. With 24/7 monitoring and a vendor-agnostic hub, it enhances incident response, minimizes asset downtime, and helps ensure operational continuity.
The comprehensive expansion of Honeywell’s OT Cybersecurity Suite is available now and is engineered for deployment across various sectors, including manufacturing, energy, and critical infrastructure.
