Safeguarding Technological Progress: Kaspersky Lab Holds Its Fifth Industrial Cyber Security Conference

On September 27-29, Kaspersky Lab held the Industrial Cybersecurity: Safeguarding Technological Progress conference in Saint Petersburg. Devoted to the most pressing issues associated with protecting modern industrial systems from cyberthreats, it was the fifth industrial cybersecurity conference organized by Kaspersky Lab and the first to have international status. The 300 guests and speakers at the conference represented more than 170 organizations: ICS vendors, insurance companies, educational institutions, including MIT (IC)³, Kaspersky Lab customers and partners from Russia, USA, Canada, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, UK, Switzerland, UAE, Philippines, Singapore and several other countries. The conference was attended by experts from JPCERT Coordination Center (Japan) and Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT. Partners of the conference included Siemens and Emerson.

Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky gave the opening remarks.

Delegates received the latest information on threats to industrial system cybersecurity and physical safety, discussed issues of industrial Internet security in the era of Industry 4.0, learned about international projects that have been implemented, were informed about regulations pertaining to critical infrastructure cybersecurity, and established new business contacts with representatives of participating companies and world-renowned experts.

Experts invited to speak at the conference included Digital Bond CEO Dale Peterson, ICS Secure Senior Partner Eric Byres, and cybersecurity researcher Marina Krotofil.

Topics of discussion included important industrial cybersecurity issues and threats such as identifying and closing vulnerabilities in industrial systems (ICS hardware and software) and malware attacks capable of disrupting industrial processes. In the practical cybersecurity track, Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT experts shared their expertise on searching for vulnerabilities in industrial systems and investigating ICS incidents.

There were several stands demonstrating the operation of security solutions, including Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity, Embedded Security Shield – an industrial controller security solution jointly developed by Kaspersky Lab and BE.services Gmbh – and several solutions based on KasperskyOS and the Kaspersky Security System designed to provide control and protection of cyber-physical systems.

A stand that participants found particularly interesting demonstrated how machine learning can be used to detect industrial process anomalies, using the well-known Tennessee Eastman process as an example.

Insurance covering industrial cyber risks represents a new trend in risk management among large industrial enterprises. Comprehensive risk analysis enables companies to make management decisions quickly and effectively. At the conference, Kaspersky Lab signed a memorandum of understanding covering industrial enterprise and critical infrastructure insurance with Marsh, an international insurance broker and risk consultant.

It is no longer necessary to persuade businesses that the cybersecurity of industrial facilities is an important issue and that an integrated approach towards addressing this issue is a must. Today, industrial companies are searching for the best enterprise cybersecurity strategy and effective security solutions.

“Last year, conference participants were more interested in issues associated with the difficulty of implementing security solutions in ICS infrastructures. This was understandable, since the main goal of industrial control systems as a whole is to ensure business continuity, and security solutions shouldn’t interfere with achieving that goal. However, what people are interested in today is selecting the right protection technologies. This shows that professionals are beginning to size up the solutions being offered by the rapidly evolving ICS cybersecurity industry to see how they would fit in at their facilities, their production lines. And conferences that bring together business representatives, vendors and ICS security experts help them make the right choices,” commented Andrey Doukhvalov, head of Future Technologies at Kaspersky Lab.

All the conference materials will be made available on the conference website.