Understanding Today’s Rapidly Changing OT Cybersecurity Landscape with Radiflow CEO, Ilan Barda

In 2010, OT facilities began digitally connecting devices in an effort to streamline operations.

I created Radiflow to assist facility managers in bridging the gap between these new technologies and legacy devices. This gave companies an easy way to introduce automation to their production lines and handle the challenges that came with integrating software from each vendor.

In 2016 it quickly became apparent that there were critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities that were being created when layering vendor software. Hence, we decided to pivot our R&D efforts and address this emerging gap with our portfolio of OT security protection & detection tools.

To make matters worse, facilities and supply chains must operate around the clock to remain profitable, leaving no time to go off-line and conduct a proper threat analysis.
This inability to pause and map facilities created invisible cybersecurity weaknesses, requiring us to manually map the network and decide on how to allocate resources. OT facilities require a delicate balance, enabling security measures without inhibiting functional efficiency.

That’s why we created CIARA, a platform that automatically maps OT networks, including multiple facilities and supply chains, then creates a mirror simulation environment. As a result, cybersecurity teams can now conduct Operational Technology Breach Attack Simulations (OT-BAS), identifying entry points, addressing network vulnerabilities, and mitigating against future attacks.

CIARA is built on three pillars- usability, protection, and clear ROI deliverables. Our technology considers the functional and fiscal impact of any breach, allowing us to deliver programs that satisfy both the CISO and CFO.
 
 

 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
The pandemic allowed us to lean into the remote revolution.

Before the pandemic, we would visit facilities and manually identify vulnerabilities. Once international travel came to a halt, we ramped up remote operations, conducting facility surveys from afar. This unplanned shift confirmed the capabilities of our virtual tools to install, monitor remotely, and fine-tune security protocols, without needing to be on site. We also created an easy-to-use UX and remain available to assist customers in learning how to operate advanced tools independently.

When on-site help is needed, we have global partners who visit facilities to help networks remain secured, without impacting facility operations.
 

What can we hope to see from Radiflow in the future?

 
Joining the OT industry throughout its technological revolution has allowed us to develop our advanced cybersecurity mitigation software, CIARA.

The JBS and Colonial attacks have shown the sophistication of attackers. CIARA is combating this with a global attack repository based on anonymized information. By sharing attack details, weaknesses, and necessary steps to address them, security teams can prepare against similar attacks in an advanced OT-BAS environment. This approach not only strengthens our customers, but entire industries.

Going forward, we will continue to leverage the experience gained in our deployments so far to properly secure industrial networks in a way that takes all aspects of business into account. Our ongoing involvement in the industry means we’ll be keeping an eye on how our products are deployed, allowing industry feedback to help guide us in our evolution.