26 April 2019, Be'er Sheva – PwC has opened a Cyber Security Experience Centre in Be'er Sheva, Israel, dedicated to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) & Operations Technology Security.
Operational Technology (OT)- the use of information technology to control physical processes, devices and infrastructure - is taking centre stage in the global cyber security arena. Industry insiders broadly expect that in the coming years, the most significant impact in cyber security globally will be around national critical infrastructures and industrial enterprise OT Security.
In 2018, as a response to the growing need for state-of-the-art services in both the public and the private sector, PwC launched an international Cyber Security Centre of Excellence for critical infrastructure protection and OT Security in Israel. It is dedicated to helping governments and multinational industrial companies around the world manage this critical and complex part of the cyber security landscape.
As part of this effort, a unique Cyber Security Experience Centre (CSEC) was built in Be'er Sheva, Israel. The CSEC is considered the first of its kind in the world and replicates an integrated critical infrastructure ecosystem. Featuring scaled down kinetic models of operational technology, they are all connected to physical PLCs and ICS/SCADA networks, operating within a fully integrated cyber security framework.
Grant Waterfall, PwC’s EMEA Cyber Security & Privacy Leader, comments:
“Our Cyber Security Experience Centre in Israel allows us to collaborate with clients and partners worldwide. This builds trust in their organisations through resilient operations in an innovative rich environment that closely mimics the actual experience of both offensive and defensive cyber events.”
The sectors currently featured at the centre include cyber-kinetic modules of electricity production, railway transportation, oil & petrochemical refining, natural gas distribution, pharmaceutical manufacturing, smart buildings, defence drones and physical security and IoT.
The kinetic modules operate within a highly sophisticated cyber security framework, which allows experimenting with both offensive and defensive cyber security methodologies and technologies. This allows people to truly experience what a cyber attack on their facility looks like, and what various protection mechanisms could do to prevent it.
Rafael Maman, PwC Israel partner and leader of the Cyber Security Centre of Excellence for OT Security, says:
“One of the greatest challenges on the journey to improving cyber security in Industrial Control Systems & Operational Technology is bridging the trust barriers among all those partaking in this journey. Our purpose at PwC is to build trust in society and our new Cyber Security Experience Centre is a major building block in this effort. I have no doubt that by allowing our clients and partners to actually experience the cyber threats they are facing, and jointly explore solutions, we will help to remove the trust barriers and facilitate the other part of our purpose – that of solving important problems.”
The location of the new centre allows PwC to tap into the bustling technology innovation ecosystem in Israel, and continuously identify game-changing cyber security technologies that could be integrated into PwC's cyber security framework.
David Clarke, PwC's Global Chief Experience Officer, says:
"This is going to be a fantastic platform to gather and bring in great talent to solve important problems in new ways. It is in Experience Centers like this one, where we are creating the future of Cyber Security. PwC have close to 30 Experience Centers around the world, but this is our first center dedicated to cyber security and we are so excited to be a part of all of the innovation that is to come."
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