Darktrace and Garland Technology have announced a new collaboration aimed at providing enhanced protection for complex industrial environments. This collaboration brings together Darktrace/OT, which is a cybersecurity AI solution, and Garland Technology’s network visibility solutions. The goal is to offer fast, seamless deployments and more complete network visibility in operational technology (OT) environments.
The need for enhanced security in industrial environments and critical infrastructure continues to grow due to the increasing monetization of OT attacks, exposure of Industrial Control Systems (ICS) to open networks, and convergence with IT. This has created opportunities for threat actors, as well as major visibility gaps for security teams dealing with tight budgets and personnel shortages.
To address these challenges, Garland’s Network TAPs and Aggregators, in conjunction with Darktrace/OT, are designed to quickly enable visibility and security across OT, IT, and IIoT networks to reach Purdue level 1. This level includes devices such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and remote terminal units (RTUs) that sit closest to the physical industrial processes. Using Garland’s network TAP solutions with Darktrace minimizes deployment challenges in complex industrial environments, illuminates points of IT and OT convergence, provides unidirectional traffic flow, and detects potential threats to keep data and environments secure.
Darktrace/OT utilizes Self-Learning AI to learn every detail of an organization’s bespoke OT systems, delivering increased visibility and detecting subtle deviations to stop threats at their earliest stages. It also provides a unified view of both IT and OT environments, functioning within air-gapped or highly segmented networks without compromising their integrity.
Denise Walter, Chief Revenue Officer at Darktrace, expressed the company’s commitment to protecting complex OT environments and bridging the gap between IT and OT security. The collaboration with Garland Technology will enable the protection of an even wider and more complex set of industrial environments, enhancing the end user cyber resilience of critical industrial environments such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, water treatment facilities, electric utilities, food processing, and more.
Garland Technology’s network TAP solutions serve as the foundation for network management, allowing secure access and monitoring of network traffic. When deployed, these solutions pass all network traffic from the tapped network link to the Darktrace appliance for analysis without disrupting business operations. Many of Garland’s TAP and Aggregator solutions include built-in data diode technology, enforcing one-way data flow from a network segment to a monitoring destination to reduce the risk of remote attacks, DDoS attacks, malware, and ransomware from external networks.
Chris Bihary, CEO & Co-Founder of Garland Technology, emphasized the company’s dedication to building network visibility products that protect critical assets. The partnership with Darktrace aims to work hand in-hand in protecting complex industrial environments around the world.
This collaboration between Darktrace and Garland Technology is centered around providing comprehensive cybersecurity solutions tailored to the unique needs of industrial environments. With the increasing risks and challenges faced by critical infrastructure, this collaboration could play a crucial role in enhancing the security of industrial networks worldwide.