Boosting cybersecurity: Siemens launches new all-in-one security testing suite for industrial networks

With the evolving convergence of IT and OT networks in industrial manufacturing, cybersecurity concerns have risen likewise. Moreover, legal regulations force industrial companies to enhance cybersecurity in their processes. To address the growing need for industrial cybersecurity solutions, the technology company Siemens has grown its cybersecurity solution portfolio and launched an all-in-one security testing suite for industrial communication networks. The SINEC Security Inspector is a software framework for active one-time scanning that allows individual network devices, network segments or the entire network infrastructure to be scanned during maintenance time windows. It brings together a selection of best-in-class security tools which are integrated into a single user interface.

Saving critical time for network inspection
“Siemens SINEC Security Inspector brings a unique enhanced testing solution to the shopfloor and enables customers to check their entire IT/OT environment including all individual components”, says Michael Metzler, Vice President Horizontal Management Cybersecurity for Digital Industries at Siemens. “Customers can promptly discover risks and potential hazards which puts them in a position to swiftly mitigate cyber vulnerabilities. This results in an enormously reduced effort when inspecting industrial networks.” As factories increasingly have different machine providers using vast vendor variety, manufacturers are faced with several challenges in terms of network security in their plants: asset identification and detection, compliance checks, malware scans and vulnerability checks. With SINEC Security Inspector all of these can be addressed.

Open framework integrates third-party security tools
SINEC Security Inspector has been designed as an open framework. Besides offering security tools developed by Siemens it also contains tools for vulnerability management provided by the cybersecurity company Tenable. Furthermore, more internal and third-party testing tools will successively be added to cover more test cases in future. “With industrial companies transforming into digital enterprises, the importance of cybersecurity has grown tremendously in the last years”, Metzler says. “As a reaction, the SINEC Security Inspector was initially developed to scan our own factories for vulnerabilities in networks. After years of testing and improving this tool, it is now just right for protecting any industrial and manufacturing environment.”

Siemens Digital Industries (DI) is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. Closely collaborating with partners and customers, DI drives the digital transformation in the process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end set of products, solutions and services to integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI’s unique portfolio supports customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its portfolio to integrate cutting-edge future technologies. Siemens Digital Industries has its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, and has around 72,000 employees internationally.