Shockproof Security: How Hydrovolt Powers Up OT Cyber Resilience

Challenge

Remote Access:

Unmanaged and left behind remote access commissioning solutions created backdoors into the Hydrovolt systems. The remote access tools that were present are known to have shared credentials for the vendor’s team, and the devices themselves had partial access to the production network.

Asset Visibility:

The inventory spreadsheet rarely matches all the devices in the plant–this was true for Hydrovolt. When equipment is locked in vendor cabinets, or part of complex production systems they are unknown with unmanaged risks.

Solution

Hydrovolt chose Claroty xDome and xDome Secure Access as AWSbased SaaS solutions to gain visibility and security fast. The Claroty Platform provided complete asset visibility quickly so the team could take action to reduce risk. They found quick wins by removing rogue tools to lower existing risk and eliminate malicious remote access.

Fast CPS Device Discovery

Across different VLANs and subnetworks, the team leveraged a combination of passive collection and Active Queries to quickly and safely gain visibility into OT devices regardless of their proprietary protocols or physically hidden locations.

Detailed Risk Profiling

Hydrovolt identified unmanaged access tools and abandoned technology that introduced significant and unmanaged business risk. Risk reduction is now monitored with clear steps the team can use to make changes during their maintenance windows.

Secure Access

Remote access is now centrally managed as previous solutions are removed from the environment.

Benefits

• Fast Time-to-Value: By establishing visibility over the course of a month–rather than 6-12 months with passive-only discovery–Hydrovolt was able to quickly start protecting their environment from known and unknown threats and exposures.

• Centralized Remote Access: The team gained one portal for suppliers and employees to access the plant, with full control over access and complete auditability. This has let them remove the tool sprawl and close the backdoors from less secure remote access technologies.

• Hassle-free Procurement: Buying via AWS Marketplace streamlined procurement and allowed the security team to start reducing risk in their environment faster.

• Winning Partnership: Deployment steps like IP configurations could have been managed in-house, but the Claroty partnership saved the team significant time. Deployment support was managed remotely with a responsive partnership that got Claroty up and running quickly for the Hydrovolt team.

“In certain areas, we can physically inspect the equipment, but in other areas, it is locked in vendor-managed cabinets or part of complex production systems. With Claroty, we now have complete, asset visibility across our environment where feasible.”

Pascal Viala, Head of Digital Manufacturing

Conclusion

Hydrovolt is able to better secure their mission by leveraging The Claroty Platform to accurately track and contextualize risks in their CPS environment. The team got a quick start by leveraging Claroty’s active discovery techniques and procuring via AWS Marketplace. Shutting down insecure remote access immediately reduced the business’s vulnerability to breaches, and they’re just getting started. Leveraging xDome and xDome Secure Access, the Hydrovolt team will continue reducing their risk with an automatically maintained asset inventory and prioritized insights.