Guidance Software is delivering a solution for forensic investigation in industrial automation environments by teaming up with a US company that specialises in cybersecurity solutions for industrial control and SCADA systems.

Lofty Perch, Inc. will use Guidance Software EnCase Cybersecurity to give companies, such as utilities and power generators, the power to discover malicious or improper files and expedite restorative activities in industrial automation environments through a forensic-based critical infrastructure security solution.

The companies claim that until now, industrial control and SCADA systems asset owners and operators have struggled with how to perform critical forensics without taking mission-critical systems offline. With Guidance Software EnCase technology, operators can perform forensic analysis while systems are operational with little impact to performance and availability.

SCADA/Incident Command Systems (ICS) were not designed to be exposed to external domains. Recent convergence of formerly disparate systems has opened critical infrastructure up to security threats and vulnerabilities traditionally only found in the IT sector.

"Despite the fact that the process control industry including electric, water, oil, and gas are prime targets of malicious cybersecurity attacks, many of these organisations don't have the post-incident cyber analysis tools to distinguish between a normal system failure or malicious activity," said Jim Butterworth, senior director of Cybersecurity for Guidance Software, Inc.

"Security solutions that can detect and mitigate these events is critical. Our new relationship with Lofty Perch delivers a solution to investigate cyber events in SCADA and control system domains to accurately expose malicious activity and prevent future events from occurring."

"Companies in the utilities and energy space are under increased pressure to identify and protect against malicious cyber activity," said Lofty Perch President and Chief Scientist Mark Fabro.

"This relationship provides for real-time and post-incident cyber forensic analysis - a vital capability needed in the infrastructure community today. Together, Lofty Perch and Guidance will enable control system vendors, asset owners, and investigators to more accurately determine cyber incident root causes and expedite restorative activities in industrial automation environments."