ICONICS ( www.iconics.com ), a Fox­borough, Massachusetts headquartered global automation software provider and five-time winner of the Microsoft Partner of the Year award, has announced an authentication method of its GENESIS64™ HMI/SCADA and building automation software suite via a control system root of trust provided through Bedrock Automation, based in San Jose, California.

With this new working relationship, ICONICS customers will be able to generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) to be signed by the Bedrock Certificate Authority (CA). These electronic certificates provide users with signed and encrypted communication between their Bedrock control system and their HMI and SCADA applications.

- Security is a top priority for most automation customers today, said Russ Agrusa, President and CEO of ICONICS. 

- ICONICS has partnered with Bedrock Automation to provide an end-to-end connected solution for IoT and Industry 4.0 that ensures safe, secure information exchange between PLCs and a variety of enterprise information systems.

ICONICS GENESIS64 is an application development platform for real-time enterprise information management. It provides a complete set of modules via a unified engineering user interface built on Microsoft .NET and sharable with other open applications via OPC UA. GENESIS64 users building control logic for critical infrastructure industries, such as water treatment, power & utilities, oil & gas, and more, can now incorporate the Bedrock encryption keys directly into their SCADA applications and enjoy end-to-end cyber secure protection.

In a typical protected architecture, an end user might deploy a Bedrock Open Secure Automation (OSA®) control system, security firmware that delivers the benefits of open technology to control field devices such as pumps, valves and sensors. An ICONICS end user requiring secure data exchange with the controller would request a certificate from the Bedrock CA. After verifying identity, the Bedrock CA provides a certificate that allows the ICONICS application to access data from the Bedrock PLC. This also provides a root of trust against which the developer can secure communications between ICONICS servers, as well as with web and mobile communications.

- Once this open, yet secure, relationship is established, said CEO and Founder of Bedrock Automation. 

- Developers can enable exchange of production data with the SCADA system for supervisory and management improvements, and can impact control functions based on management information. Penetrating it would require decrypting multiple codes across multiple layers, which could take many years. ICONICS can now offer this level of protection to their end users, at no cost above that of the control system itself.

Bedrock enables cyber security by starting with a secure supply chain, using verified electronic circuits it builds itself. It then draws on the power and flexibility of public key infrastructure (PKI) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) technologies that are similar to those that are used to secure online financial transactions and critical military and aerospace controls.

Get Informed: Keep Your Automation Network Safe!

Find out more about the possible cyber threats to your automation network and how to combat them in ICONICS’ Cyber Security Threats eBook.

Visit www.iconics.com/cyberthreatbook .

Visit ICONICS at Hannover/Messe 2018

ICONICS will be an exhibiting partner at Microsoft’s booth (Hall 7, Stand C40) at Hannover Messe 2018 from April 23 – 27 in Hannover, Germany. The company will be showing off multiple cutting-edge automation solutions including its holographic machine interface with Microsoft’s HoloLens holographic computing device, as well as its IoTWorX™ IoT gateway software suite. We look forward to seeing you there!

About Bedrock Automation

Bedrock Automation, based in San Jose, California, is the maker of Bedrock, the world’s most powerful and cyber secure automation platform. This Silicon Valley company has assembled the latest technologies and talents from both the automation and semiconductor industries to build an unprecedented automation solution for industrial control based on three prime directives: simplicity, scalability and security. The result is a system with a revolutionary electromagnetic backplane architecture and deeply embedded ICS cyber security, which delivers the highest levels of system performance, industrial cyber security and reliability at the lowest cost of ownership.

About ICONICS

ICONICS is headquartered in Foxborough, Massachusetts and is a global software developer of visualization, HMI, SCADA and energy solutions. With over 350,000 installations in over 80 countries worldwide and running in over 70 percent of Global 500 companies, ICONICS software is recommended for automating, monitoring and optimizing a customer’s most critical assets. ICONICS has recently been named the 2017 Microsoft Application Development Partner of the Year and is a five-time winner of the Microsoft Partner of the Year award. 

Melissa Topp

Senior Director of Global Marketing, ICONICS

melissa(at)iconics.com