2011-07-19

Air Gaps Dead, Network Isolation Making a Comeback

(This article was originally published on the Digital Bond blog.)

Eric Byres recent post claiming the #1 ICS and SCADA Security Myth is protection by air gaps struck a cord with me. I have been thoroughly distracted of late with my new role at Waterfall Security Solutions but even so I could not let this one go by. Old-school air gaps are still used occasionally, in the most sensitive control systems. The rest of the time, technologies like data diodes or unidirectional gateways provide the the most important benefits of truly air gapped control systems, while still permitting businesses to profit from access to the real-time data produced by their control systems.