Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

Infrastructure related to energy, transport, communications and public health are essential to a nation’s safety, prosperity and wellbeing and this has increasingly made them a target for both physical and cyber attacks. Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) measures are vital to key assets such as nuclear reactors, water treatment plants and dams.

Protection from electromagnetic threats needs to fit seamlessly into the infrastructure environment alongside physical and cyber measures to ensure that operation is both smooth and secure.

Why RFeye Guard?

The essential services provided by national infrastructure such as power plants, chemical facilities and drug manufacturing facilities need an extremely high level of security. Cyber and electromagnetic intrusion into such a facility can be one of the easiest ways to cause massive economic damage or even large-scale loss of life.

Using a covert device to gain remote access to the network infrastructure of a drug manufacturing facility, the industrial automation systems can be controlled to dangerously alter dosages. A data exfiltration attack on a nuclear power plant can be used to find out when nuclear materials are due to be moved and the security protocols in place. By definition, any attack on Critical National Infrastructure is likely to be disastrous.

RFeye Guard is a key component of protection for the Cyber and Electromagnetic environment in and around these facilities. The system will monitor the RF spectrum in real time allowing potential threats to be located, removed and investigated.

However, these kind of attacks designed to do immediate damage are not the only threats that CNI facilities face. RFeye Guard can also be used to prevent the use of eavesdropping devices related to industrial espionage as well as accidental RF interference to industrial automation systems.

Secure offices

Companies win commercial business through their employees ability to talk, develop, design and plan. From board rooms to engineering labs, critical tactical and strategic decisions are made and discussed in great detail. This is why, in modern business, security has to be a key area of focus. We are all familiar with the need for network security to keep intrusions out, which is perhaps why so many security breaches take place inside the organization.

Why RFeye Guard?

With IP crime related to theft of trade secrets costing the US economy alone $180 billion a year, there is a growing need for organizations to protect themselves against state-sponsored and competitor-instigated industrial espionage.

In a busy work environment, the traditional method of carrying out TSCM sweeps on a periodic basis is not feasible. The level of activity around the office means that a sweep is only really valid for the time it takes place. It is far too easy for an employee to re-activate an electronic surveillance or data exfiltration device after the sweep team has left or indeed for the evening cleaners to place devices on the request of a competitor or foreign government. TSCM sweeps are also highly disruptive to work and will usually require equipment to be switched off.

RFeye Guard monitors a facility 24/7 and in real time to detect RF transmissions which may compromise office security. This system works autonomously in the background with an alert and location provided to security guards if/when a suspect device is detected. The system can be integrated with 3rd party security systems to provide an overall security picture. Often, this will allow RFeye Guard location data to be cross referenced with other sources such as CCTV to identify employees responsible for placing covert devices.

Pharmaceutical / Medical

Cyber IP theft is a growing threat with the pharmaceuticals and biotech industries some of the hardest hit. Estimating the cost of IP theft is notoriously difficult, since the financial impact relates not only to the immediate loss of sales, but also factors such as brand reputation and willingness to invest in R&D. With increasing awareness of the need to protect IP from external cyber attacks, it is important to make sure that innovative companies are also looking closer to home. This means ensuring the office environment itself is not compromised by transmitting devices which might make a sophisticated cyber attack unnecessary.

Why RFeye Guard?

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) from legal challenges as well as the threat of theft is vital to the success of innovative pharma and biotech companies. Without confidence that innovation will be rewarded, investment into drug research which may go on to save thousands of lives will not be feasible. The importance of legal protection in the form of patents and Non-Disclosure Agreements is well recognized. However, all this effort is at risk of being wasted if a hostile transmitting device has already allowed a rival to steal confidential information and file a patent many months before.

RFeye Guard will continuously monitor the RF environment in and around sensitive research facilities to detect devices which may be used to exfiltrate company confidential information. This might be in the form of compromise of data stored in company servers or video/audio surveillance of meeting rooms. The monitoring takes place autonomously in the background without any disruption to day-to-day activities.

Without RFeye Guard, many pharmaceutical and biotech companies would only discover such a data loss when the rival’s patent is published. With RFeye Guard, the threat can be detected, located and removed before any compromise has taken place. In this industry, it’s not just the survival of the company itself that may be affected, but the survival of those who would benefit from future innovative drugs.

Banking and financial institutions

Banks and other financial institutions are entrusted with a vast amount of consumer and business money and data. In the event of a security breach, the consequences for the affected institution will be loss of reputation and custom in the best case. In the worst case, there could be financial liability into millions of dollars. Even where data breaches are not related to negligent or malicious activities by employees, the organization can still be found liable if regulatory authorities find that best efforts have not been made to protect data. Comprehensive cyber, electromagnetic and physical security measures are essential to minimize risk.

Why RFeye Guard?

Banks and financial institutions need a level of cyber and electromagnetic security that cannot be guaranteed by an occasional TSCM sweep. It is far too easy for a data exfiltration device to be placed or reactivated after a TSCM team has given the all clear and left.

RFeye Guard provides institutions with the 100% assurance they need enabling them to protect data, money and services to the extent their customers expect. The autonomy of the system makes it an easy way to increase security. Once a network of sensors (Nodes) is installed in a building, the system will monitor the RF space 24/7 providing an alert and location to security guards when a suspect device is detected. It can be readily integrated with other 3rd party security systems to form part of an overall security picture.

Guard can also be used to enforce mobile device bans on trading floors. Monitoring of all communications on trading floors is key in the prevention of misconduct such as insider trading. Since this monitoring can be circumvented if traders use their own mobile devices, some banks have begun to implement mobile bans. Employees are not always cooperative with such bans, either due to malicious activity or personal reluctance to be away from their phone. RFeye Guard will seamlessly detect mobile devices and their location in an office without the need to have intensive security measures such as searches and visually monitoring the trading floor.

Data centers

Data center operators trade in trust. The ability to maintain services and assure data continuity alongside security is essential. Owner operated data centers need to deliver the same level of service, and also consider security as a primary function. Internal data services are more likely to be used for IP or business critical data and processing. Reliance on centralized infrastructure is growing as cloud services and virtual desktops becomes the default computing medium, making security and continuity increasingly dependent on data center resilience.

Why RFeye Guard?

Security breaches in data centers can have massive and far reaching impact on data security and service provision. For this reason, they can have some of the strongest physical and cyber security measures in the world.

One of the easiest ways to prevent security breaches or even accidents such as staff tripping over and pulling out a cable, is to restrict human access to the bare minimum. This usually means invasive TSCM sweeps are not an option. A system like RFeye Guard can be installed in a data center and left to operate autonomously reporting back unusual RF activity to a remote security guard. Unusual RF activity may just be a malfunctioning component or could be a suspect transmission used for data exfiltration. Either way a signal location can be provided allowing further investigation.

The real-time autonomous monitoring of RFeye Guard provides an extra layer of security without introducing any new risk related to human access to the facility.