Veteran Israeli Company Enters the Cyber-Defense Market

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By iHLS NewsDesk

The Israeli company Magal, known for its physical defense systems, is now entering the cyber-defense market as well. The company will supply its Israeli and international clients with complete, combined systems based on both physical and cyber defenses.

In the beginning of the year Magal acquired the Israeli company Websilicon, recently renamed Cyberseal, a developer of cyber-defense solutions.

According to Magal directors, almost every modern system includes digital components (processors, memory, interfaces and communications), and they are all vulnerable to cyber attacks, which can paralyze, damage or lead to cyber-espionage and loss of sensitive data. Even traditional protection systems such as smart fences, access control and cameras are vulnerable to cyber attacks.

A combined attack presents a special risk, such as infiltrating a naval port: The security computers can be hacked using cellphones, fake worker ID cards can be issued to unauthorized personnel, perimeter cameras can be controlled and ordered to present “frozen” images and alarms can be deactivated – thus allowing physical intrusion into the port facility.

Magal understood that the company can no longer develop only physical protection solutions. Its new services include:

• Developing unique solutions to meet the requirements of specific Magal clients through Cyberseal
• Integrating cyber-solutions into the Fortis system, a central platform for control, command and threat monitoring.
• Leveraging Magal’s integration capabilities in order to develop solutions which combine physical and cyber defenses – using Magal, Cyberseal and third-party products.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

“We already supply physical protection solutions with integrated third-party products, and we’ll do the same with cyber-defense solutions”, said Hagai Katz, Magal VP and Marketing Manager. “The market for protection against physical threats is relatively mature. There’s a lot of experience defending sites, and there are standards for control rooms, management systems, check lists and threat responses. Compared to that cyber-solutions are still in their infancy, and report procedures, “guard” training and responses are still not as established. We believe that the right way is to deal with all threats in an integrated fashion.”

The most critical points in every site are information entry and exit. These points will be constantly monitored, in a similar way to physical defenses. A special firewall system, adjusted for each site, will monitor incoming wired communications. A Cyberseal IMSI Catcher will be used to monitor wireless communications. The IMSI Catcher can “hijack” incoming and outgoing cellular communications and make sure that all incoming data is legal. Another cyber-defense component is advanced Cyberseal-developed equipment which allows identification and stopping of illegal traffic within the organization’s networks. Another component of combined cyber-defense systems: Third-party software and hardware for end points, such as firewalls, servers, PCs, antivirus programs and more. All these products will be integrated into the overall management systems, they’ll report any unusual events and would be controlled from the central system.

Magal intends to offer its clients cyber-defense solutions for all levels of activity in critical sites, including:

• Physical systems (sensors, cameras, access controls)
• Critical infrastructure (power, water, air conditioning, elevators and other critical systems)
• The site’s manufacturing and operative systems
• Computer networks and wired or wireless communications

The Fortis system assumes that a cyber-event is no different than a traditional physical security emergency: Sensors report to the management systems and incidents are represented on the site’s maps. Any events is assigned a priority level, check lists, reporting instructions, follow-up options and post-event analysis.