Mitsubishi Electric Automation, ICONICS, and Dispel Announce Integrated Secure Remote Access

ICONICS, Mitsubishi Electric Automation (MEAU), and Dispel unveiled an integrated, Moving Target Defense-based remote access solution for industrial automation systems at this year's ICONICS Connect 2021 conference. This announcement means manufacturing, water & wastewater, oil & gas, building management, and maritime clients can now provide their teams with enhanced secure remote access to their operational technology without reaching beyond their partnerships with ICONICS and MEAU.

Since November 2019, the reference standard for cyber resilience and fault tolerance in the United States and Japan—through the Cross-Sector Forum Mapping—has been NIST 800-160 Volume 2. This document calls for the use of Moving Target Defense at several levels within any cyber system. Absent automation, properly meeting this standard in a remote access context requires considerable human capital (15 minutes of administrator time per connection), patience on the part of the connecting users (7 to 12 minutes of login steps), and specialized uplink equipment. Dispel's core engineering specialty is in automating the launch and maintenance of Moving Target Defense infrastructure.

"Mitsubishi Electric Automation has had their eye on Moving Target Defense since NIST 800-160 Vol 2 was still a draft circular," said Ian Schmertzler, President of Dispel. "The 2 years and 14 days of due diligence, testing, and micronization that preceded this event are a testament to the care with which Mitsubishi Electric Automation and ICONICS approach addressing mission-critical questions for their customers."

The solution presented on September 30 at ICONICS Connect 2021 offers users connection times of under 30 seconds, administrative overhead of less than 1 minute per connection, and an embedded installation on Mitsubishi Electric MELIPC series hardware that is light enough to allow the system to continue serving its initial purpose in parallel.

"The top priority for all three teams was that this relationship deliver a next-generation capability to the market," said Ben Burke, Dispel's Chief Operating Officer. "It needed to exceed the cybersecurity requirements customers would likely need to meet in the coming decade while also besting the operational efficiencies of the highest performing unsecure remote access alternatives."

The presentation comes at a critical moment in the industrial automation sector. With the Colonial Pipeline incident having motivated enforcement of cybersecurity controls in regulated industries, and skilled labor shortages simultaneously driving demand for remote access, industrial automation customers have been searching among suppliers for off-the-shelf options that could rapidly bring their firms into alignment with standards without impeding the productivity gains industrial automation offers.

About Dispel

Dispel is the world's leading provider of Moving Target Defense networks; designed, built, and maintained in the United States. Founded in 2015, the cybersecurity company has offices in Austin, New York, Virginia, and Tokyo. The company's mission is to connect people to their industrial control systems, wherever they are. They do so through a high-speed, secure remote access product that is fast, easy to implement, and simple to use. Learn more at https://dispel.io.

Press Contact

Ben Burke

press@dispel.io

About ICONICS

ICONICS is headquartered in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and is a global software developer of visualization, HMI, SCADA, and energy solutions. With over 375,000 installations in over 100 countries worldwide and running in over 70% of Global 500 companies, ICONICS software is recommended for automating, monitoring, and optimizing a customer's most critical assets. ICONICS offers competitive software products for various business sectors, such as manufacturing, industrial and building automation, and it possesses advanced technology and remarkable industry leading knowledge in the development of industrial software. ICONICS was named finalist by Microsoft in 2021 as Sustainability Changemaker Partner of the Year and has been recognized 10 times for a Microsoft Partner of the Year award.

Press Contact

Mary Anne Ballouz

maryanne@iconics.com

About Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc.

Headquartered in Vernon Hills, Ill., Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. is a U.S. affiliate company of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. It offers a broad product portfolio including programmable automation controllers (PAC), programmable logic controllers (PLC), human machine interfaces (HMI), variable frequency drives (VFD), servo amplifiers and motors, control software, computerized numerical controllers (CNC), motion controllers, robots, low-voltage power distribution products, and industrial sewing machines for the industrial and commercial sectors. 

Additional information about Mitsubishi Electric Automation is available at us.MitsubishiElectric.com/fa/en. 

Press Contact

Pam Summers

Pam.Summers@meau.com

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