PLC Controls Firewall

Wiesemann & Theis GmbH have expanded their firewall range with the Microwall IO, a small firewall with innovative I/O control.

Like all W&T firewalls, the Microwall IO isolates machines and systems from the surrounding network first on network islands, so that they are protected from harmful events. It routes these islands securely into the company intranet, so that all the desired functions remain intact. This is ensured by individual filter rules, which use whitelisting to regulate communication between the island and surrounding network.

Remote maintenance and access to the devices in the island network as well as management of the Microwall IO can be performed using a WireGuard VPN tunnel, both as a VPN server and VPN client.

The key feature: Digital in- and outputs allow integration of remote maintenance or firewall-specific actions in automation environments. This makes it possible for example to use a PLC output or a simple switch to activate VPN access, switch firewall rule sets or control the status of the network interfaces. The outputs enable external visualization of events, such as optical or acoustic signaling of remote maintenance access actions.

The Microwall IO is available from Wiesemann & Theis for a net price of 558.00 €. Commercial users can test the product - Article no. 55212 - for four weeks at no cost. More information can be found at wut.de/55212.

Wiesemann & Theis GmbH was founded in 1979 by Reinhard Wiesemann and Rüdiger Theis. With 50 employees the company designs and produces microcomputer and network technology. In 2001 Wiesemann & Theis introduced the Web Thermometer, the first industrial temperature sensor with a network interface. In the fields of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things they can look back over more than twenty years of experience.