Many M2M devices need to be securely and persistently connected over 
a variety of transports such as satellite, WiFi, LTE, etc. Increased persistence can increase pressure on security as the longer devices are connected, the greater the chance of them getting hacked. In addition, staying on all the time means a larger battery drain.
One company, Netsnapper thinks they have the solution to these problems. As luck would have it we recently sat down with the CEO of the company, Keith Cornell who walked us through what his company does.
They have been focusing on IIoT as well as fleet management – allowing devices to have secure tunnels on one or more networks. Typically they connect industrial sensors, tablets and other data transfer devices which need constant connectivity.
In addition, the solution includes bandwidth management, built-in compression, a dashboard and open APIs.
The management layer allows policy changes and also allows the setting up of restrictions which enhance security. For example, a policy can be set up so a north valve can only be turned on only by a north sensor. This would reduce the risk of a malicious internal or external user accessing the system and causing a potentially catastrophic problem.
You might recall in 2015 we reported, Iran was found to have accessed a dam in Rye, NY and actually accessed the valves. It was a stroke of luck that no one was harmed or killed as a result.
In addition, Netsnapper can restrict who sees what – meaning an engineer can only have visual and change access to areas he or she should be allowed to see.
This isn’t unlike the Linux CHMOD command – except applied to networks and devices and using a GUI, not a CLI.
If your IoT or IIoT solution needs persistent connections which are redundant and secure, like SD-WAN for IoT with a management dashboard allowing you to enhance security and privacy, check Netsnapper out.
To learn more, be sure to attend the Enterprise IoT Event, IoT Evolution Jan 22-25, 2018 and see IBM, Ingenu, Cradlepoint, TellientARM, McAfee & other major companies. Special focus on Smart Cities, Security, IIoT and case studies.
