Belden Releases EAGLE20 Plug-n-protect OPC Firewall

Belden has recently introduced version 1.6.0 of its Hirschmann EAGLE20 Tofino industrial network security system, including the new EAGLE20 Tofino OPC Enforcer Loadable Software Module (LSM). Developed by Byres Security Inc. for Hirschmann, the OPC Enforcer locks down any system using the OPC Classic protocol to provide security.

Thomas J. Burke, President, OPC Foundation, commented “The Tofino OPC Enforcer is an important innovation and a great solution for the 90% of industrial networks that use OPC Classic. Past plant shutdowns, for example, haven’t been caused by hackers. Instead they were the result of badly configured software causing traffic storms that impacted critical controllers and other systems,” said Eric Byres, security expert and Chief Technical Officer at Byres Security. “The EAGLE20 Tofino OPC Enforcer LSM does much more than block hackers and viruses from accessing the safety system. Its dynamic port management and built-in traffic-rate controls prevent many basic network problems from spreading throughout a plant.”

“OPC Classic is deployed extensively by many of our automation customers, and these customers recognize the need for defense in depth security.” remarked Mark Cooksley, Product Manager for Network Security at Belden. “Unfortunately in practice, the unique challenges presented by OPC have meant that networks supporting this protocol are inadequately protected against modern threats. Now, for the first time, the OPC Enforcer ensures that networks running OPC Classic can benefit from the same pervasive security protection that is standard for networks using other protocols.”