Cisco Cyber Vision

Manufacturing and industrial technologies continue to impact production processes significantly. Cloud computing, AI and machine learning, big data, advanced automation, remote monitoring and IOT are Industry 4.0 technologies that have improved manufacturing processes. These technologies enhance accuracy, product quality, workforce transformation and supply chain management. They improve decision-making by enabling real-time data analysis and predictive maintenance.

However, these technologies come with various challenges that manufacturing facility owners, plant managers and IT managers must address. The interconnection between different devices, systems, machines and industrial networks increases the possibility of security breaches that can cause equipment damage, misuse of data or compromised operations.

You need a cybersecurity solution — such as Cisco® Cyber Vision — to minimize these risks and ensure your industrial operations’ continuity, safety and resilience.

What Is Cisco Cyber Vision?

Specifically built for organizations in oil and gas, power and water distribution, public transportation and manufacturing, Cisco Cyber Vision gives you complete visibility into your industrial networks and OT security posture so that you have the information needed to:

• Enforce cybersecurity policies.
• Minimize the attack surface.
• Ensure process integrity.
• Segment the industrial network.
• Build secure infrastructure.
• Drive regulatory compliance.

This tool has advanced OT monitoring capabilities that provide insights for improving network efficiency and enable prompt troubleshooting of operational issues.

The edge monitoring architecture and integration with Cisco’s top security portfolio are rare combinations that make Cisco Cyber Vision an efficient tool. It is easy to deploy Cisco Cyber Vision at scale, making it possible to track or monitor your industrial assets and their application flows in real time. This security tool is ideal for building a unified IT/OT cybersecurity architecture by feeding the IT security operations center (SOC) with OT context.

Features and Associated Benefits 

Cisco Cyber Vision’s key features and benefits include:

• No network overload: Additional network resources are not required because Cyber Vision sensors only send lightweight metadata to the Cyber Vision Center.
• Unique edge architecture: Deploying IoT/Ot at scale is easy. Sensors are embedded in Cisco networking equipment, and you won’t have to deploy dedicated appliances.
• Passive and active discovery: Active discovery sends nondisruptive and precise requests. Cyber Vision passively captures and decodes network traffic using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). You can take advantage of both active and passive discovery.
• Global view on all sites: Security teams have centralized visibility into events and assets on all sites.
• Complete visibility: View everything within your industrial network. The sensors embedded in equipment send targeted inquiries to assets. Firewalls and Network Address Translation (NAT) cannot block the messages, yielding complete visibility.
• Risk scoring: Cyber Vision makes calculations of risks for every device, in addition to any dataset, line or specific site. This allows you to prioritize actions to improve your security posture. 
• Dynamic asset inventory: Gain detailed, real-time visibility into your industrial assets, application flows and communication patterns.
• Documenting zones and conduits: Group your assets into zones to allow operation teams to share network information with IT.
• Map views: Get access to several types of maps to visualize the activities of your control network. 
• OT tags: The application flows are translated to human-readable tags. These tags help you immediately understand what each device is doing and its role, regardless of your knowledge about protocol.
• Operational insights: All OT events are monitored by Cyber Vision to identify problems before they cause disruptions. You can troubleshoot issues faster and reduce downtime.
• Preset views: Dive into datasets and preset views easily to help you focus on detection strategy. 
• Security posture reports: Access comprehensive reports on the security posture of industrial operations. 
• Security insights: This feature helps you quickly understand the current security status, spot vulnerabilities and anomalies and address threats. 
• Vulnerability detection: Get notified about the software and hardware vulnerabilities that must be patched. 
• Anomaly detection: Detect abnormalities or variations from regular processes or behaviors. 
• Intrusion detection: Discover cybersecurity threats originating from your IT network. 
• IT/OT collaboration: Build cooperative workflows between OT and IT to secure production efficiently.
• Rich integration with IT: Share OT context with IT tools easily. 
• Extending IT security to OT: Develop a unified OT/IT SOC.
• Correlating IT/OT security events: Cyber Vision is pre-integrated with SOAR and SIEM platforms and can forward alerts and OT events to any tool using Sylog. You can choose the event types to be shared.
• Information assurance and compliance: Comply with security standards and protect your organization’s data. 
• On-premise or in the cloud: Choose your preferred deployment platform or infrastructure. 

What Makes Cyber Vision Unique? 

Cyber Vision has numerous features and functionalities, making it a reliable cybersecurity tool for industrial operations. Its standout capabilities include:

1. Comprehensive Visibility

Cyber Vision leverages active and passive discovery mechanisms to identify all your assets, their communications and their characteristics. Active discovery queries use the semantics of the protocols and are extremely precise and nondisruptive.

Additionally, queries are not blocked by NAT boundaries or firewalls, leading to comprehensive visibility. You can identify all industrial assets to see how they communicate.

2. Securing Your Industrial Network

The security monitoring components are embedded within Cisco’s industrial network equipment. This unique computing architecture means you don’t have to look for or buy dedicated devices and figure out how to install them. You don’t have to build an out-of-band network to send network flows to a central security platform. The industrial network can collect the data needed to provide detailed analytics, visibility and threat detection.

3. Lower Risk of OT Attacks

You can check the cybersecurity tasks that should be prioritized to minimize the likelihood of an attack. Identify devices that need urgent attention by understanding the status of OT security.

4. Higher Operational Efficiency

Proper implementation of Cisco Cyber Vision solutions allows you to reduce downtime, increase network efficiency and gain support for seamless communication. You can identify communication issues, monitor events and resolve issues quickly. 

5. IT Security Extended to IoT

Cyber Vision constantly monitors various elements of the industrial network with particular emphasis on IoT security. Cisco IoT security allows you to manage risks and enforce rules throughout the network. This is made possible through communication with security devices. 

6. Platform Support

Cisco Cyber Vision’s unique architecture consists of several sensors that perform protocol analysis, deep packet inspection and intrusion detection within your industrial network and Cyber Vision Center.

The Cyber Vision Center stores data from the sensors and provides the user interface, behavioral analysis, analytics, API, reporting and more. It may be run on hardware or virtual machines. Check the Cisco Cyber Vision datasheet for a full list of the platforms that support the sensors.

Who Is Cisco Cyber Vision For? 

The integration of Industry 4.0 technologies increases the risk of cyberattacks in the manufacturing sector. Organizations implementing full digitization and IoT solutions need multidimensional security measures, which Cisco’s Cyber Vision provides. This solution will help increase resistance to attacks and ensure the continuity of industrial operations.

You should implement this solution if you’re in the manufacturing industry or any sector that utilizes industrial assets. You need to understand how your assets work and communicate, ensuring they’re secure from internal and external attacks. 

Secure Your Assets With Cisco Cyber Vision

Malisko is a Cisco Digital Solutions Integrator (DSI) partner. We have extensive experience in the convergence of IT and OT. Our expertise includes industrial information technology, mobile applications, automation systems, plant-floor industrial control systems, cloud computing and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Contact us to learn more about Cisco Cyber Vision solutions.