Security without downtime?

With their Microwall Bridge, W&T have added to their range of industrial firewalls an easy to implement solution for isolating network components during continuous operation - without having to touch the sensitive IP configuration.

The practical implementation of network segmentation in expanding structures is usually difficult to achieve: Connecting networks from huge CNC machining centers into a complex overall system through various terminal devices including the smallest embedded devices such as sensors, actuators or switches. Since traditional segmentation is accomplished using routers on the IP level, this almost always requires cumbersome reconfiguration of the IP basic parameters of all the components involved. If the required access data are available at all, there is still an extremely high risk of errors. The resulting troubleshooting inevitably results in a production standstill.

To prevent such stoppages as well as to protect such components for which the access parameters have gotten lost, the Microwall Bridge offers a quasi plug-and-play solution in two steps: First the devices to be protected or function groups are combined on the physical level using Ethernet switches. The uplink to the surrounding main network remains intact during this phase, so that the only dropout is while the network cable is actually plugged in. Then the Microwall Bridge is switched to the uplink for the main network. The web interface is used to release the needed communication connections between main and isolated network. The IP setup of the relevant devices remains untouched.

The IP-transparent security enhancement minimizes not only the otherwise common dropout risk thanks to its minimal integration effort. It also offers a very simple emergency fallback in case a device fails. The Microwall Bridge protects vulnerable systems from malware and undesired access, including machines or older systems such as services having known security gaps. Whitelist-based filter rules ensure that only explicitly enabled communication takes place.

The Microwall Bridge is available from Wiesemann & Theis for 398.00 €. Commercial customers can test this article number 55411 for four weeks at no charge. For more information see www.wut.de/55411.