UK-based Darktrace, a cyber security startup that leverages machine learning and mathematics to detect threats, has launched a new solution designed to detect threats within Industrial Control Systems (ICS).
Unveiled just weeks after announcing that it had raised $18 million in funding, the company said that its “Industrial Immune System” leverages Darktrace’s machine learning and mathematics in both operational technology (OT) and corporate environments to detect advanced cyber attacks and “subtle” insider threats targeting Industrial Control Systems, including SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) devices.
Powered by technology developed at the University of Cambridge, and available as part of Darktrace’s flagship Enterprise Immune System, the company explains that its Industrial Immune System module works by analyzing the data flows within OT environments and creating a unique understanding of ‘self’ for every operator, workstation and automated system within a production network.
The platform is deployed at the heart of the network without disruption to the reliability and availability of ICS networks, the company said.
“Like the human immune system, this technology has the core capability of learning what ‘normal behavior’ looks like, and constantly refines this understanding – meaning that it can detect subtle threats that have infiltrated the ICS.”
“By studying the behavior of the control system itself, not the industrial process that it manages, we can provide increased confidence that the control system is functioning as intended,” added Nicole Eagan, CEO of Darktrace.
“Nothing is fool-proof in the modern-day challenge of cyber security, especially when it comes to protecting complex SCADA systems,” said Peter Emery, Group Operations Director at Drax, a European energy firm that has deployed Darktrace’s platform. “With Darktrace, we now have visibility of both our corporate and production environments, enhancing our ability to anticipate potential issues early, wherever they originate.”
Founded in 2013 by senior members of the UK’ GCHQ and other intelligence agencies, DarkTrace is headquartered in Cambridge, UK with offices in London, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore and Washington DC.
British telecommunications services giant BT announced last month that it was integrating Darktrace’s enterprise security platform, which will be added to BT’s security portfolio and be available as both part of an integrated cyber security offering or as a point solution within BT’s Assure portfolio of managed security services.
