19 Aug 2011
 
 Q1 Labs works closely with customers to enhance their security postures to help combat outside and insider threats

Q1 Labs, the global provider of total security intelligence solutions, announced it has more than 100 energy and utility customers worldwide using the QRadar Security Intelligence Platform to monitor and secure their critical infrastructures.

Key attributes of the QRadar Security Intelligence Platform, optimised for Critical Infrastructure entities, include:

  • Industry-leading threat correlation, including embedded geographic data from 3rd party intelligence feeds so customers can monitor and protect against advanced targeted threats by criminal organisations, nation state, and other sophisticated attacks on our critical infrastructure
  • Visibility and packet layer forensics into custom applications and protocols found in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) networks
  • Cyber asset identification, configuration monitoring, and  security status monitoring capabilities that align with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards
  • Pre-built utility and compliance reports that are automatically updated to meet current and evolving compliance auditing, reporting, and validation initiatives driven by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), etc. and new reporting requirements as they evolve
  • Proven integration with smart grid infrastructures including integrations with Silver Spring Networks and Itron smart meters

"Executives in critical infrastructure organisations and the manufacturers of smart meters and smart appliances need to recognise the magnitude of the risk they and their customers are exposed to, and allocate the budget and resources to build IT security into their products and offerings," said Chris Poulin, Chief Security Officer for Q1 Labs. "What our many energy and utility customers need and get from our QRadar Security Intelligence Platform is unmatched visibility to identify threats before they culminate in a compromise, and the scale in both performance and deployment to support our nation's-and the world's-critical infrastructure."

The recent "State of IT Security: Study of Utilities & Energy Companies" report from the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Q1 Labs, brought to light a few interesting statistics, such as:

  • 75 percent of global energy organisations surveyed admit to having suffered at least one data breach over the last 12 months
  • 69 percent of organisations feel a data breach is very likely or likely to occur over the next 12 months
  • 67 percent of energy organisations are not using what would be considered "state of the art" technologies to minimise risks to SCADA networks

These statistics are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to identifying the risks within critical infrastructures. Q1 Labs has worked closely with customers to enhance their security postures to help combat outside and insider threats.

"Sourcefire has partnered with Q1 Labs to deliver added network visibility and to further integrate intelligence required for addressing threats and vulnerabilities in Smart Grid and critical infrastructure environments," said Doug Hurd, director of technical alliances, Sourcefire. "Sourcefire's powerful IPS, when used in conjunction with Q1 Labs' QRadar Security Intelligence Platform, provides an enhanced set of capabilities to better predict, prevent, respond and remediate attacks and vulnerabilities."