Fortifying Government Cybersecurity: How BlastWave Leads the Way

Military bases operate like small cities. They support the mission with resources such as  water, wastewater, fuel, logistics, building management, and power.  Warfighters and support units require utilities on a daily basis.. The national defense depends upon the availability of these crucial assets..

The enemy knows any interruption of service will significantly diminish the effectiveness of the base. They seek access to disrupt critical operational technology systems or maybe to install hidden malware they can activate later during a larger cyber attack. Only the cybersecurity solutions that protect the base's OT networks stand in their way.

First the hackers conduct reconnaissance on the base security solutions, OT vendors, and cyber security providers. They sift through publicly available information for announcements of awards to vendors, and then they  research which OT products those vendors use. They pour through CVE databases to find even one unpatched vulnerability to use as a stepping stone into the OT network. They only need to discover a single path to deploy exploits customized and ready for that particular OT system.

But the hackers don’t know that BlastWave protects the OT network of this base. Their scans of the IT network and exploration by privilege escalation can not reveal the OT network because BlastShield’s network cloaking stops it cold. The hacker’s scans come up empty, as far as they can see, there’s no OT network to even discover.

So the hackers retrench and target known base personnel with OT responsibilities. They identify several candidates through AI-assisted searches of social media like LinkedIn, and create targeted spear phishing campaigns attempting to steal credentials. No matter how much training an organization implements, human error cannot be eliminated. One of the targets clicks on a link in an AI-generated email and unwittingly gives the enemy access to his IT accounts. They compromise his system and his account, but they soon discover that the BlastWave client provides his access to OT systems. They’ve been stopped again. The BlastWave client works without password, requiring multi factor authentication and mobile device biometrics. The OT network at this base rests entirely behind the BlastShield.

The hackers realize that they cannot penetrate this base’s OT network with a cyber hack, so they give up and search for easier targets.  Targets not protected by BlastWave.

BlastShield reduces the attack surface of governmental OT networks and stymies the primary attack vectors used by AI-powered hackers: reconnaissance and phishing. BlastWave’s Zero Trust Protection solutions prevent hackers from impacting the safety and security of government networks..