Emerson will offer Nozomi Networks’ advanced solutions for industrial control system cyber resiliency and real-time operational visibility to customers worldwide. The agreement combines Nozomi Networks’ industry-leading OT & IoT security and visibility capabilities with Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system (DCS), consulting, and professional services.

“By teaming with Nozomi Networks, Emerson is enhancing our customers’ immediate access to OT network visibility, security, and asset intelligence that integrates seamlessly with our DeltaV DCS and is fully supported by the Emerson Cybersecurity Services organization,” said Alexandre Peixoto, Cybersecurity Business Director of Emerson’s Process Systems and Software business.

“We are teaming with Emerson to address the growing cybersecurity concerns that are an everyday reality for modern automation processes,” said Nozomi Networks CEO Edgard Capdevielle.

Nozomi Networks’ full suite of OT and IoT cybersecurity solutions is now available globally through Emerson.

The C-Suite and business leaders understand the value of technology and the benefits it can bring to their bottom line, but there is one key technological shift on the horizon that they can’t afford to ignore. Networking at the edge.

Over the next few years, organizations in every industry will experience change on an unprecedented scale as people, digital devices, smart technologies, and an ever-expanding network come together to transform commerce, work, education, healthcare, recreation, and more. A whole new range of possibilities emerges when we can engage with literally every device and build intelligence and connectivity into physical objects such as office furniture and clothing. The path to 2030 will spawn new customer-centric businesses, enable entirely new industries and reinvent existing ones, challenge us to adapt and evolve, and facilitate greater access, equity, and inclusion across every aspect of society – this is the potential of the Edge. We define the Edge as the new experiences being enabled by edge technologies for customers, employees, students, patients, and any users of network services.

Jacob Chacko, Regional Director – ME and SA, Aruba

Smart meets digital at the Edge – smart conference rooms, smart assembly lines, smart menu ordering, smart stadiums, and a range of technology-enabled smart experiences. The opportunity at the Edge is driven by many things, including smart applications powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, data analysis, next-generation Wi-Fi, 5G communications, and “edge-to-cloud computing.”

Transformational Aspects of Edge-Based Strategies

Edge-based strategies are driving five critical shifts shaping the future of business and work:

1. User Empowerment – The technologies are enabling a fundamental redesign of the user experience – be they customer, student, patient, or employee – giving users the tools to define what they want, how they want it, and even how they want to pay for it.
2. Transformational Leadership – The scalability and rapid capability enhancements of exponentially advancing technologies such as AI, ML, IoT, and cloud computing are enabling leaders to pursue and deliver experiments to drive 2x to 10x greater improvements across their businesses.
3. The Pursuit of Digital Innovation and Excellence – The increasingly central role of digital technologies demands that we raise digital literacy across the organization and prioritize the rapid evolution of our digital capability to accelerate the adoption of a digital mindset and speed up the creation of digitally based products and services based on insights generated from data collected.
4. Embracing and Embedding Smart – The Edge is helping organizations embrace the true power of smart devices to deliver mass customization and deep personalization of a range of user experiences. Rapid advancements in AI and ML are enabling the establishment of smart spaces and creating the opportunity for smart personalization, adaptation, and continuous learning in the applications offered to users.
5. Emergence of New Businesses and Industry Sectors at the Edge – The focus on solutions tailored to customer needs is driving opportunities from the creation of new businesses to the birth of new trillion-dollar industry sectors.

Call to Action

The opportunity at the Edge represents a new way of conceiving business – designing from the outside in and putting the organization’s focus on what happens at the edge to maximize value for customers and employees, while also driving operational efficiency. Although it may seem that the concept is in its infancy, the nature of competition and the exponential rate of advancement in the underlying technologies mean that the pace of adoption will accelerate. This will lead in turn to transformational shifts in the experiences created and the business and revenue models adopted across every sector. For the C-suite, the call to action is clear. The only question is: how quickly can you respond to start building the future?

A recent research project of Palo Alto concluded that non-business devices (i.e., IoT) used by employees can create a major threat in enterprise networks. How did you arrive at such a conclusion and what is its base?

Palo Alto Networks and technology research firm Vanson Bourne jointly released The Connected Enterprise: Internet of Things (IoT) Security Report 2021. In 2021, cyberattacks against IoT devices have gotten bigger and bolder – from hacking water treatment plants to security cameras and more. The report highlights the need for shared responsibility among work-from-home (WFH) employees and IT teams to secure the enterprise.

Palo Alto Networks surveyed around 1,900 IT decision-makers from 18 countries, including UAE and Saudi Arabia, focusing on both SMEs and multinational firms in many sectors such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and government.

Elaborate on Palo Alto’s principles about cybersecurity and speak about key solutions

From the strategy perspective, we are big believers in the “zero trust” approach. We recommend organizations focus on their set strategy as the next way to digitize and evolve. The previous concept of layered defenses as a model does not work anymore because data is not any longer in a central location and it is everywhere. Therefore, the concept of zero trust needs further expansion besides the idea of conducting microsegmentation both on-prem and cloud.

One of the key technologies we have under our brand name is Cortex XDR, which detects and stops the most advanced attacks to keep networks safe. With over 10 acquisitions made recently, Palo Alto Networks is all set to provide robust, innovative integrated-platform support to its customers.

What types and sizes of enterprises do you work with?

Palo Alto Networks supports firms of all sizes, from SMEs to multinational organizations. We are neither limited in terms of size nor the capabilities we can support. In addition to firewall support for businesses, Palo Alto Networks also offers cloud solutions. Our mandate is to consistently evolve, creating a safe and secure environment for our customers and partners.

How do you observe the competition and evaluate the way security solution business progresses in the region?

The competition in the cybersecurity segment has increased recently. Even though there are many security service providers, few organizations offer a  comprehensive approach.

For businesses with a small number of employees, it can be simpler to choose a vendor in comparison to a large-scale enterprise, which involves many different aspects to create a secure environment. Palo Alto Networks has had experience with all sizes of organizations and is continuously advancing its expertise and tools to meet the demands of all types of firms to secure their data and networks.

Written by: Joe Robertson, Director of information security and EMEA CISO at Fortinet

Digitization is transforming how businesses operate. This transition is often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 because it represents the fourth manufacturing revolution. The first industrial revolution was mechanization, the second was mass production and assembly lines using electricity, and the third was the adoption of computers and automation.

Joe Robertson, Director of information security at Fortinet

Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, with the digital transformation of businesses largely consisting of automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and rapid technological innovation. Industrial processes and machines are becoming smarter and more modular, with automation and data exchange that include the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). These smart, always-connected devices provide real-time contextual information with low overhead to optimize processes and improve how companies and individuals interact, work, and live.

It’s no wonder McKinsey estimated that investments in IoT technology would grow at a rate of 13.5% throughout 2022. This growth in IoT is contributing to an escalating explosion in production and industrial data. This data is being collected and analyzed to improve productivity, monitor activity, and enhance predictive maintenance. With so much business-critical data passing through IoT and IIoT devices, organizations must take measures to secure their technology.

Why is IIoT Security Important?

Digital has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals, who seek to exploit IoT and IIoT as weak links in the data chain. The increasing volume of structured and unstructured data being generated by these devices, and their oftentimes anomalous behavior spanning across global ecosystems challenges even the best organizations. Further complicating the situation is that many of these devices are wireless (WLAN or 5G) and often have communication channels to their manufacturers for maintenance and troubleshooting purposes, which can make them a potential backdoor into the production network.

Most organizations are not well prepared for IoT and IIoT device vulnerabilities. The ubiquitous interconnectivity among devices, users, and distributed networks presents a substantial challenge for traditional siloed security solutions. Focusing defenses on a single point in the network is becoming increasingly ineffective. The lack of single-view visibility across devices, users, and the entire network creates blind spots that cybercriminals can exploit. According to a study conducted by EY, almost half of enterprises indicate they are concerned about their inability to track security across their IoT and IIoT assets, keep them virus-free, and patch vulnerabilities. This complexity is exacerbated by comingling IIoT devices with wired devices on the same network segments and can lead to uncertainty as to exactly what is connected where.

IoT and IIoT Security Risks to Be Aware Of

From a security perspective, IoT and IIoT devices present several risks. One problem is that most of these devices were not designed with security in mind. Many of them are headless, which means they do not have a traditional operating system or even the memory or processing power required to include security or install a security client. In addition, an alarming number of devices have passwords hard-coded into their firmware.

The result is that many IoT devices cannot be patched or updated. And even when security can be installed on the device, the underlying installed software is often cobbled together from commonly available code or is untested, which means that most installed security tools can be circumvented by exploiting a wide range of known vulnerabilities. Additionally, most IIoT and IoT devices have limited or no configurability. And when devices are compromised, most IT organizations admit they are unlikely to be able to detect the event before it impacts systems and data.

How to Mitigate IoT and IIoT Security Risks

It is important to view IIoT as part of your broader security environment rather than as isolated units. Here are a few additional recommendations for securing this technology:

• Segmentation of the production environment, with all IIoT and wireless devices in segments outside of the SCADA or ICS network. In many cases, micro-segmentation should be performed to further restrict communications between devices to further isolate and confine them to only authorized communications.
• Network Access Control for accurate information on what is connecting to the network and verification of each device’s security posture before allowing it to connect.
• Security must be redesigned to provide seamless visibility on what is happening across all networks and devices, from IoT to multi-cloud networks.
• Because of the minimal intelligence and security functions included in most IIoT devices, an Intrusion Protection System upstream of these devices should be used to detect attacks on known exploits and to provide “virtual patching” of devices that cannot have software updates applied.
• Security monitoring and management must be done through a single console. Enterprises must be able to see all devices, assess risk levels, segment traffic, and assign policies across the entire network in real-time. This should include both production and IT networks to reduce the risk of attacks on IT resources propagating into the production network, and vice-versa.
• Active protection solutions against unknown threats should be deployed, including sandboxing technology (to determine if files, attachments, or other code is malicious or not), and deception technology, (also known as honey pots), to attract attackers, confirm their presence in the network, and expose them to tools to block and eliminate them.
• Zero trust access can provide simple, automatic secure remote access that verifies who and what is on your network and secures application access no matter where users are located.
• Security solutions should automatically adapt to network changes, anticipate threats, interpret and implement business language commands, and interoperate in a cybersecurity mesh architecture to share threat intelligence and proactively coordinate responses to threats across all security devices and network ecosystems.

Going Forward

Unfortunately, IIoT devices are typically not designed with security in mind, and finding ways to secure every device on your network is daunting. Because of this, organizations must take immediate action to protect their systems from attack.

A new generation of tools is helping organizations meet today’s ever-expanding attack surface, delivering not only visibility of the network environment, but also enforcement and dynamic policy control. Whether devices are connecting from inside or outside the network, they can automatically respond to compromised devices or anomalous activity.

Fortinet has developed products, services, and tools that directly meet the operational and regulatory requirements of industrial and manufacturing networks. The expansive Fortinet Security Fabric platform offers a cybersecurity mesh architecture approach that includes centralized management and a unified context-aware security policy that provides complete visibility and granular control over the entire organization.

Written by: Jacob Chacko, Regional Director at Aruba HPE

After over a decade of 4G connectivity, leaders in global telecoms are now racing to roll out the fifth generation of broadband cellular technology and meet today’s twin challenges of increased network activity and bandwidth demands. The pressure to upgrade has only become greater due to the pandemic, which shifted the global workforce from the office to the home, and in doing so greatly increased the number of digital touchpoints.

Jacob Chacko, Regional Director – MEA, SA at Aruba, HPE

Research conducted by Markets & Markets indicates that the enterprise 5G market is expected to grow from $2.1 billion in 2021 to $10.9 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 31.8%. In the short term, the task at hand for service providers involves enabling IoT communications, fixed wireless access, edge analytics, and enhanced mobile broadband. To achieve this, service providers will have to lean on existing technologies. SD-WAN is one of the key technologies that have the potential to aid service providers in their delivery of a higher quality network experience to meet ever-increasing user expectations.

5G: Untapped Potential

According to a study conducted by IDC, it is estimated that there will be 51 million IoT devices by 2021. The advent of edge computing will serve to enable this influx of IoT devices. However, as connectivity increases, so too does the amount of data that must be processed, both in real-time and close to the source.

Facilitating huge volumes of data at high speeds is a key function and much-promised benefit of 5G. Yet despite providing higher bandwidth to operations, 5G is limited in range. It is expected that 5G networks will be powered by hundreds of thousands of small cells. However, the denser the network of cells, the more difficult they become to manage, operate and maintain, therefore the crux of the issue becomes not only the optimization of these networks but also the automation.

SD-WAN: The Enabler

Connection and integration across the relevant compute edges are integral to any 5G operation. SD-WAN platforms can help service providers by allowing for automation and aiding in the optimization of traffic and management of 5G cells. Unlike a traditional router-centric WAN architecture, a Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is designed to support applications in on-premises data centers, public or private clouds, and SaaS services.

SD-WAN identifies applications and provides intelligent routing, with each class of application receiving the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and security policy enforcement. This quality in particular is vital in the enablement of 5G. Through SD-WAN’s ability to incorporate machine learning, it enables networks to adapt to varying circumstances and automatically route high-bandwidth traffic to 5G cells and the edge.

Ensuring high-quality user experience for 5G is paramount, therefore service providers must evaluate SD-WAN vendors on the following:

• Granular, intelligent application-driven routing. The ability to automatically prioritize traffic based on bandwidth should be a key area of concern. Lower bandwidth traffic should be routed to other available transport such as LTE or broadband, allowing for high-bandwidth traffic like video streaming to be routed through a 5G cell.
• Centralized management. Facilitating the management, maintenance, and operation of edges and 5G cells by intelligently rerouting traffic during provisions and upgrades. When enterprises deploy new applications or when a security policy change is necessary, a business-driven SD-WAN enables these changes to be delivered in minutes, while simultaneously minimizing the opportunity for human error.
• Machine learning. Automation is key. Any SD-WAN vendor must guarantee that their network can adapt to varying conditions in real-time and provide optimal routing to the edges and 5G cells.
• Security integration with business-intent networking. Cybersecurity is an ever-present issue. By directing traffic to the right security services and enabling application-driven security policies enforced from a centralized position, service providers will not have to compromise on either cost or performance.
• Virtual WAN overlays. Quality of service is hugely important, and network resources must be flexible and optimized. 5G networks depend on network slicing, whereby each slice receives a unique set of resources. By using both technologies in combination, service providers can steer critical traffic to the 5G network where it can be isolated to a particular slice depending on its specific requirements.

As 5G and edge computing adoption increases, so too will the demands of users. Service providers must be ready to provide an ever-present and high-performing network. The initial success of 5G deployment will demand a network that has automation and security at the center of its operation, like the one offered by SD-WAN.

By: Anas Al-Hammouri, Infoblox

Fifth Generation wireless (5G) signifies a vast improvement over current cellular wireless technology in terms of speed, response time, reliability, number of supported device types, and device density per square kilometer. The technology has the potential to transform cell phone usability. 5G’s potential applications go beyond cell phones to the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors, enabling innovations in mobile health, telesurgery, automated manufacturing, smart cities, e-sports, VR/AR gaming, and connected vehicles.

Anas Al-Hammouri, Regional Sales Manager at Infoblox

Network Operator Requirements and Challenges

The transition to 5G and accompanying industry impact will create numerous technical challenges for network operators and service providers, especially with the core network services vital to 5G connectivity: DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (DDI). Among the most pressing challenges are:

• Ultra-low DNS latency to enable real-time applications
• Auto-scaling DDI for network slicing
• Distributing DDI services to the network edge for multi-access edge computing (MEC) in the smallest possible footprint

With 5G Latency Matters More Than Ever

At 5 milliseconds, current DNS latency is too high to support many 5G applications. For example, in 5G deployments, AR/ VR, gaming, connected cars, and telesurgery will require end-to-end latency of 1-10 milliseconds. Clearly, current DNS latency is unacceptable. The pervasive connectivity of 5G will increase reliance on edge computing, which brings cloud resources to compute, storage, and networking—closer to applications, devices, and users. 5G implementations will require greater use of small cell stations at the very edge of the network, so data need not travel long distances to a cloud or data center. To ensure unhindered traffic flow at the edge, DNS services must also be positioned at the edge.

A New Variable: Encrypted DNS

New encrypted DNS standards have emerged that, while protecting the privacy of DNS requests and the integrity of responses, Communications Service Providers (CSPs) can lose some of the control needed to govern DNS usage within their networks unless they provide their encrypted DNS services. DNS over TLS (transport layer security) or DoT, and DNS over HTTPS or DoH, work by encrypting the DNS communication between your operating system’s stub resolver or a local application and your recursive DNS resolver. Both technologies ensure data privacy and authentication by encrypting communications between DNS clients and servers. However, in doing so, many solutions are changed to point to external DNS resolvers, allowing client devices to access DNS services outside of the provider’s control and exposing the subscriber to potential security risks and negative customer experiences.

Providers need to reduce the risks these technologies pose. Implementing encryption through the DNS resolver on the network allows service providers to remain in control of their subscriber’s network experience. It will enable providers to continue to provide security, content filtering, and other critical on-net services.

EDITORIAL

Unlike the first, the second year of the pandemic enabled the biggest technological explosion that humankind ever witnessed. The feasibilities of work, collaboration, and engagement have transformed powerfully to the next level. Besides routing resilience, the tech world hosted unimaginable innovations and steered their phenomenal spread. All of that combinedly tell us about the coming of new-age hopes and opportunities – and that transcends some of our challenges forever!

The Integrator, being one of the most competent publications, kept its enterprise readers posted with the latest information and trends in the industry. In the past months, we wrote in detail about emerging technologies and trending topics including AI, IoT, cybersecurity, industrial display technology, and hybrid work.

The December edition comes up with detailed coverage of “cloud computing” and insightful notes on public, private, and hybrid cloud services offered by hyperscalers and regional players. With exclusive interviews of industry leaders, the 97^th edition has also brought to light the business prospects of cloud technology in the Middle East.

On a special note, we are unleashing endless business opportunities to our partners and subscribers through an exceptional and sustainable initiative, SME Champions. It brings SMEs, large enterprises, tech giants, BFSIs, and logistic companies together on a common platform comprising of networking, business communications, and partnerships, is scheduled to kick off in February 2022 – visit VARonline.com for more details.

Read, engage, and support!

Assistant Editor
Murali Margassery

Thank you, Mr. Tamer for sparing time with The Integrator. We are excited to understand more about EDCH with this interview session!

We understand EDCH is one of the prominent companies that help telecom operators with VAS and generate revenues for their business. Give insights into the areas you focus in the industry

EDCH is a UAE-based service provider that has a presence in nearly 10 countries across all regions and helps numerous telecom operators in their business. We help telecom operators provide international roaming services, protect their roaming business hassle-free by providing them with data and financial clearing and settlement services.

Tamer Abou-alam, VP, EDCH

Apart from that, we help our customers generate value for their subscribers in different areas like A2P messaging, Fintech and SIM, and E-sim businesses. Each of these solutions helps create more revenue for the telecommunication business of these operators as we study numerous factors and introduce tailored services for our customers.

You are seemingly offering services outside the UAE and across the globe. Tell us about the countries you offer services and operators you are associated with

We are the trusted partner for many MNOs spread around the world. We support our customers with a high level of customized services across all our services portfolio in roaming, A2P Messaging, Fintech, and SIM/E-sim business.

Which are the key areas EDCH concentrates on roaming clearance?

When it comes to using roaming services, we support telcos with data, financial clearing, and settlement services with a high level of customizations and BI tools to our customers. We always thrive to improve our offering to support new technologies like 5G, IoT, complex roaming agreements, and blockchain.

What kinds of FinTech and enterprise messaging services do you provide?

We had found a huge business scope with fintech in different regions especially in Africa and Asia. We collaborate with telecom operators to create futuristic mobile payment solutions such as e-wallet and aim to connect them together via an international money remittance hub.

How do you work with telcos in the A2P messaging space?

Enterprise messaging is all about profit-oriented mediation between telecom operators and enterprises on SMS services. Network operators carry text messages of various enterprises i.e., financial, banking, healthcare, automobile, etc. to their customers. EDCH simplifies the handling of this complex business to telcos by working between both categories of service providers and integrating them into prospective business models.

How about the use of modern technologies such as AI, Data Analytics, and Cloud in your business?

We make use of AI tools in different services offering especially for roaming services. We also offer most of our services in a cloud environment or locally if required by the local market regulations.

Tell us about EDCH’s business prospects for the next two, three years

Global expansion is our primary goal and hence the current approach to strengthen our business with local resources and expand our commercial presence in all those geographical locations to support telcos around the globe. While keeping EDCH as a reliable hub between global telecommunication service providers, we wish to bring in the latest technology and practices all within the telecom ecosystem.

Do you face challenges in the business?

The pandemic had severely reduced international traveling of people and that impacted the roaming services globally. The hazy days are over as COVID-19 fears are fading away and the global travel restrictions are being relaxed. We also realize the potential in developing services to support telcos in other growing areas outside of the roaming scope yet still within the ecosystem. We forecast a bright future with continuing roaming services and other uniquely productive solutions offered to our partners.

The Industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity is seemingly complicated as its stakes are high and the technology is sophisticated. The ICS cybersecurity is different from information technology (IT) cybersecurity, that security risk assessments are indispensable, and those cybersecurity discussions are littered with highly specialized terminology. So far, that leaves us where we started, with a seemingly complex problem.

Naman Taldar, Channel Sales Manager, Oregon Systems

But, does ICS cybersecurity really have to be so complicated? In theory, yes! But in practice, no!

From a practical perspective, you can begin building in a layered ICS security approach, often called defense-in-depth. Oregon systems’ architectural approach provides end-to-end visibility and protection from Level 0 to level 4 of the Purdue Model. Oregon Systems is the largest ICS /OT/IoT/IoMT value-added distribution company in the Middle East region with experience in implementing cyber security in several critical infrastructures. Our experience comes from 300+ implementations in sectors such as oil and gas, nuclear, power and water, chemical, utilities, medical, defense, and other large enterprises.

The primary goal of Oregon Systems’ defense-in-depth architectural design is to make the ICS network unbreakable. While perfect security is seldom achieved, the intention is to make it impossible for attackers that they never try or they abandon an attack after becoming frustrated with attempting to penetrate multiple layers of defense.

Critical infrastructures and other sectors are becoming the targets of cyberattacks, and they operationally require continuity, and protective assurance. Oregon systems, being a trusted partner of our channel partners and end customers, leverages our extensive skill set to secure their infrastructures in different ways.

The roundtable event, hosted by Palo Alto at Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Media City on November 02, 2021, following the release of the report highlighted the need for shared responsibility among work-from-home (WFH) employees and IT teams to secure the enterprise.

Alongside a Q&A session with media representatives, the discussion on the report was held involving Ercan Aydin – Vice President, Haider Pasha – Chief Security Officer, Tarek Abbas – Systems Engineering of Palo Alto Networks.

Palo Alto Networks is a multinational cybersecurity company that provides advanced firewalls and cloud-based solutions to enterprises.