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All around the world, companies, governmental institutions and defence organisations need to guarantee cybersecurity for their critical infrastructure, their sensitive data and their operational environments. Certified and qualified at the highest European levels, Stormshield’s technological solutions meet the challenges faced by IT and OT to protect their activities. Our mission: to provide cyber-serenity for our clients so they can concentrate on their core activities, something which is vital to the satisfactory operation of our institutions, our economy and the services provided to our populations. When you choose Stormshield, you are choosing a trusted European cybersecurity provider.

Today, a basic level of protection in the fight against cyberattacks is provided by segmenting operational networks. However, in the face of new and increasingly sophisticated threats, the deployment of solutions for in-depth analysis (DPI – Deep Packet Inspection) of the messages exchanged is also required to anticipate the protection of these sensitive networks.

To succeed in this challenge for OT, the security solutions that are deployed must meet exacting requirements in terms of availability, integrity and confidentiality, arising from the various business challenges supported by operational networks.

Any IPS system that works in close proximity to automated systems must therefore be implemented in compliance with these aspects to ensure it is possible to apply a proactive, sustainable security policy while guaranteeing the in-service safety of the operational systems.

To do this, four major factors must be taken into consideration:

• an integrated solution that provides in-depth knowledge of industrial protocols;
• an ability to manage the compliance of operational messages to make it possible to detect anomalies and protect OT network assets;
•  proactive protection against the various threat variants to counter targeted attacks and avoid production stoppages;
• a context-based approach to message exchanges to ensure they are compliant with operational processes

This white paper describes the various mechanisms that an IPS system needs to exploit to satisfactorily fulfil its detection and protection role. It will also give you the basic features an IPS is required to include to ensure it can be tailored to your security requirements.