As the world rushes to become carbon neutral, Green Energy technology is getting deployed, connected and exposed to attack
THE CHALLENGE #
The Green Energy revolution relies upon decentralized, smart infrastructure that can send data – and energy – in any direction. Deploy Faction Virtual Private Circuits to take those chargers, batteries and devices OFF of the Internet and safe from malicious tampering
Decentralized Infastructure is Vulnerable to AttackThe Green Energy revolution holds huge promise for a carbon free future. But it depends on decentralized smart infrastructure that can both generate and distribute energy in all directions. This makes it extraordinarily vulnerable to attacks when it is manged with traditional centralized security architectures. To cite just one example, in April 2022, a few months after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, three wind-energy companies in Germany were hit with cyber-attacks that disabled thousands of digitally managed wind turbines. In one case, the company wasn’t even the target but “collateral damage” after attackers took down the Ukrainian satellite system ViaSat. With a total dependency on remote connectivity, every device in the infrastructure becomes a juicy target for cybercriminals looking to to disrupt operations through a ransomware attack, or hostile state actors with damage and destruction in mind.
Ensuring Network Security Poses Huge Burdens on Innovation #
Securing networking is a critical foundation for building robust cyber-resilience into digital renewable energy systems
Network traffic. In connected power systems, the traffic between a device and the central application is often unencrypted and vulnerable to manipulation. Data at rest and in motion can be intercepted by attackers, or the traffic systems overwhelmed in DoS attacks.
Internet connection. Traditional power plants such as gas are generally not connected to the internet and have a so-called “air-gapped” infrastructure, which reduces the risk of a cyberattack. However, the connected nature of renewable energy sources means that they generally don’t have this protection. All web-facing assets need to be secured.
Legacy infrastructure of electricity grids. In most countries, a significant proportion of the electricity grid are old and outdated and unable to receive security updates. This makes securing critical devices of decentralized Green Energy – which MUST be connected – extraordinarily challenging.
Our BYOD World Can Make It Just About Impossible #
The Green Energy space is driven by innovation, with many early stage companies and independent vendors all plugging into and helping to maintain its shared, decentralized infrastructure. Just about all of the companies’ users are BYOD – making every single one of them a vulnerability.
Ensuring that communications and coordination between authorized parties is also critical to operational security. But in a BYOD world, where installing yet another app is met with skepticism, users want to use the email applications, cloud drives and other apps they are already comfortable with.
Faced with a trade-off between efficiency versus security, all too many companies go with the former and hope for the best.
CyberSecurity Challenges for Green Energy Organizations #
Networking #
- Securing machinery and devices that by nature are distributed but MUST be connected.
- Ensuring secure communication between different parties that coordinate and collaborate to maintain infrastructure.
- Deploying and managing traditional secure networking hardware into home and other distributed environments is resource-intensive, complex, and costly.
- Providing point-to-point connections while maintaining scalability and flexibility.
Devices #
- Securing machinery and devices that by nature are distributed but MUST be connected.
- Securing legacy devices with unsupported operating systems which cannot be upgraded or replaced without huge expense.
- Establishing & maintaining secure connections between BYOD apps installed by vendors and customers and devices they need to access.
- Keeping Cloud application servers that must control such devices safe from Internet attacks.
Data #
- Keeping email and other communications between independent parties that must collaborate private and secure.
- Sharing and storing large data files required to ensure compliance while avoiding breaches.
- Keeping data that is downloaded and stored on BYOD devices private and secure.
- Giving owners of electric cars and other smart vehicles control of their data – and the sharing of it – without creating complex rules and workflows.
THE SOLUTION #
Faction Puts You In Control #
Your Keys. Your Network. Your Data.
The way we have combined these capabilities simplifies, streamlines and eliminates many of the paint points of Virtual Private Networks, Software Defined Networks and Data Encryption. The result of all this is a solution that enables everyday users, small to mid-sized businesses and distributed teams of all sizes to take control of their own security for their most important communications, devices and data.
Networking
Create and Control Your Own Personal Private Network
Endpoint-to-Endpoint
The Cloud is Compromised – so remove it from the equation
Easy to Use
Encrypt data at ALL times with keys created and controlled by the data owner
Devices
Take smart, dumb and legacy devices that cannot protect themselves OFF of the Internet into your Faction Network
Data
Encrypt data at ALL time with keys created and controlled by the data owner
Key Capabilities for Green Energy #
Faction Networks address the three critical challenges of securing networking, data and devices for innovators of all sizes in Green Energy with a single, low-cost solution that is easy to deploy and easy to use.
Virtual Private Circuit (VPC)
Take devices and decentralized infrastructure and any distributed remote users and devices needed to manage it – OFF of the Internet and into a VPC only visible and accessible to your organization.
Secure Access to Your Devices
Use Faction Pods to easily take smart charging stations, solar panels, sensors and any other critical devices OFF the Internent and into your VPC.
Ransomware-proof Your Data
Use Faction Drive to back-up your data at all times on cloud drives for which only YOU have the keys to access and decrypt.
Protect Your Communications
Use email apps and cloud drives that you and your staff and key vendors and partners are used to, but encrypt all the data with your own keys!
Made for a BYOD World
When the Faction app is installed on PC, laptops, tablets and smartphones, data and network access can be restricted with biometrics for the authorized user.
Zero Trust and Zero Exposure
Faction Networks eliminate all cloud-based attack vectors. NOBODY but the users and devices personally invited and authorized by YOU can see or access them.
Join our Pilot Program to Try Faction Now #
We are now accepting pilot customers and partners into our program. If you are interested, please fill out the form below to apply, and we will be in touch very soon!