Feb 27, 2018   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Industry Leaders Launch Non-Profit ICS Village to Raise Awareness of Industrial Control System Security Issues and Provide Hands-On Training

Cybersecurity industry leaders Bryson Bort, CEO of SCYTHE and Chairman of GRIMM, Beau Woods, Cyber Safety Innovation Fellow at The Atlantic Council and leader in the volunteer I Am The Cavalry initiative, Larry Vandenaweele, Cyber Security Manager at PwC Australia, and Thomas VanNorman, Director of Application Engineering at Veracity Industrial Networks, announced the launch of the non-profit Industrial Control System (ICS) Village. The ICS Village is a traveling interactive experience that showcases ICS technologies and highlights the security controls that enable them to power the secure operations of chemical processing plants, pulp and paper manufacturing facilities, power generation systems, oil and gas processing, telecommunications networks and other elements of critical infrastructure. The village is designed to increase awareness and educate the public on protecting these systems and facilities. The ICS Village is also developing an engaging digital presence to broaden the reach beyond live events.

ICS security was notably thrust into the headlines in recent years when hackers used automated malware to induce a power outage in Ukraine in 2015 and again attack its power grid in 2016.

The ICS Village delivers a safe, yet realistic environment where researchers can learn to assess, enhance and defend industrial environments using real components such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), Remote Telemetry Units (RTU), actuators and miniature robotic arms to simulate a realistic environment by using components commonly found throughout different industrial sectors. Offering a customized, simulated, real-world environment for security researchers to interact with ICS devices and systems, the ICS Village will kick off a national tour of cybersecurity conferences starting with the 2018 RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, California on April 16-20, 2018.

“Our goal and focus is to build a stronger awareness of ICS security issues that impact the infrastructure that we rely on daily. Researchers don’t have regular access to this type of technology and we want to provide the community with a jump start to tackle the growing issue of ICS cybersecurity,” said Bryson Bort, CEO of SCYTHE and Chairman of GRIMM. “It’s about education. We’re bringing more opportunities to gain hands-on experience on how these systems work in real environments and building out a platform that’s accessible to the security research community and beyond.”

In addition to hands-on training to security research teams, the ICS Village is developing a digital platform that will aid in the effort to combat major, realistic threats to ICS, such as power grid hacks. The ICS Village will make its debut in its current form at the 2018 RSA Conference in RSA’s ICS Sandbox. It will feature GRIMM’s “Howdy Neighbor” model “smart” house that simulates how multiple interactive smart home products can be hijacked by attackers of various skill levels to expose real-world vulnerabilities in addition to live speaking sessions from key ICS security thought leaders.

“By incorporating the ICS Village as a non-profit while elevating key elements of the experience, we are enhancing the program to reach more audiences domestically and beyond. So much education is needed to address the broad range of ICS-related cybersecurity issues that exist today,” said Tom Van Norman, ICS Village Founder and Director of Application Engineering at Veracity Industrial Networks. “We need to ensure that the security research community as well as the greater cyber industry has access to the tools and training to mitigate ICS security issues at a national scale.”

In addition to the founding members of the ICS Village, Parsons Cyber has signed on as a Platinum Sponsor while Dragos and Claroty have signed on as Gold Sponsors. Silver Sponsors include Nozomi Networks and Veracity. Bronze Sponsors include Airbus, CryptoniteNXT, Cybati, Gravwell, and Unisys. For details on how to become an ICS Village sponsor, please email sponsorship@icsvillage.com.

For more information on the ICS Village including upcoming events and appearances, please email info@icsvillage.com.

About the ICS Village

We bring you a safe, yet realistic environment where you can learn on how to assess, enhance, and defend your Industrial Environment. We bring you real components such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), Remote Telemetry Units (RTU), actuators, miniature robotic arms, to simulate a realistic environment by using commonly components throughout different industrial sectors. You will be able to connect your machine towards the different industrial components and networks and try to assess these ICS devices with common security scanners, network sniffers to sniff the industrial traffic, and more! Visit https://www.icsvillage.com.