Critical Infrastructure Security
,
Governance & Risk Management
,
Network Firewalls, Network Access Control
Data Diodes Enhance Air-Gapped Network Security, Deliver Advanced Network Isolation
Opswat purchased a Washington D.C.-area OT cybersecurity startup to reduce risk and boost operational efficiency for critical infrastructure.
The Tampa, Fla.-based critical infrastructure protection provider said its acquisition of Fend will make robust security more accessible and adaptable in rugged environments like water facilities, oil rigs and electric grids, said CEO Benny Czarny. Fend’s data diodes ensure unidirectional data flow for absolute security and can help with enhancing global mandates for critical infrastructure, according to Czarny (see: Securing IT/OT Systems for Critical Infrastructure).
“Firewalls are great and are very important,” Czarny told Information Security Media Group. “However, they’re not perfect. When you’re looking at critical infrastructure protection, there has to be something better than a firewall, something that does not have this issue of firewall rules, of comorbidities. And this is their diode. Their diode is a physical device that you can physically prove is unhackable.”
Why Data Diodes Are Superior to Firewalls
Misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in firewalls make them susceptible to exploitation, especially in complex networks. These issues can be catastrophic, Czarny said, especially for critical infrastructure such as nuclear facilities, energy grids or water systems. Fend CEO Colin Dunn said data diodes enable companies to share critical data securely from isolated networks while maintaining operational integrity.
“You could have better visibility and higher efficiency with data diodes, without penetrating that air gap that you have today,” Dunn told ISMG. “So, if you’re looking for better visibility, more data, even data sets to feed the AI of tomorrow, data diodes are a great way to pull that off in a safe way.”
Data diodes are a vital tool for CISOs in high-risk industries where traditional cybersecurity measures fall short, helping CISOs achieve absolute risk reduction by creating impenetrable boundaries for sensitive systems. Data diodes can unlock valuable insights from previously isolated systems, such as operational data from air-gapped networks, and play a critical role in feeding clean, verified data into AI systems.
“It’s really about risk reduction down to a level where nobody is going to breach that defense,” Dunn said. “If you think that you could have better visibility and higher efficiency, you can get that with data diodes, without penetrating that airgap that you have today.”
Buying Fend will help Opswat address market gaps by offering diodes for a wider range of use cases from high-traffic server rooms to remote field installations, Czarny said. Dunn said Fend’s small size limited its ability to meet customer demands for capabilities such as content scanning and high-throughput data transfers, giving customers the complementary capabilities needed for an end-to-end solution.
“Are we going to go build this ourselves over the next 10 years?” Dunn asked. “Or are we going to find an opportunity to really say, ‘Hey, let’s take what we do really well and find a home for us in a larger organization, so that we can get on with saving the world and not have to try to build it ourselves. The answer is right in front of us – you team up with the leader in the space, and that’s what we’ve decided to do.”
How Fend, Opswat Will Come Together
Fend’s hardware is designed for interoperability, Dunn said. Early technical integration efforts involve interoperability between Fend’s diodes and Opswat’s MetaDefender platform for advanced data scanning and threat detection. The long-term vision includes creating a fully integrated solution that spans all network layers, offering comprehensive protection from sensors to enterprise networks.
“We have nearly 2,000 customers, and many of them would like to deploy universal gateways and their diodes for remote locations, whether its oil rigs, whether its water facilities, whether its energy, you name it,” Czarny said. “And we have a great solution that needs to be installed in a server room. So, now we expand, which we bring the diodes to the field. You can protect the hard assets.”
OPSWAT’s MetaDefender technology enhances Fend’s diodes with data security features including multi-scanning, deep content disarm and reconstruction, data loss prevention, and comprehensive threat intelligence. Fend’s hardware innovations, such as rugged, low-power diodes, helping Opswat address diverse use cases from high-traffic server rooms to low-powered IoT devices in remote locations.
“We can go and actually isolate any solar panel from the internet,” Dunn said. “Using the mobile device platform, you can still have the connectivity while you have the absolute protection, so hackers won’t be able to take over the grid and really create damage to the electric supplier.”