This report contains the results of a market survey on OT security sensors for substations.
In 2017, the ENCS ran a project on security monitoring for Operational Technology (OT) systems. In this project, ENCS did a market survey on new products specifically designed for OT. It showed that there were several network-based sensors on the market offering similar functions. They combined the functions of an anomaly-based intrusion detection system with a passive vulnerability scanner.
Many ENCS members are now using such OT security sensors. Most deploy them in their control center networks. Although in 2017 some vendors were already offering industrial PCs or embedded sensors that could be placed in field locations, the costs of such sensors were then prohibitively high.
But recent procurement projects at members have shown however prices have gone down considerably. It is now becoming economically feasible to deploy sensors in the internal networks of high voltage substations.
This raises the question if and how these OT security sensors could be used to effectively monitor the security of substations. ENCS has started a member project to answer this question. As a first step, a market survey was conducted.