Forescout Selected by U.S. Department of Energy to Participate in Firmware Project Under Grid Modernization Lab Consortium

Forescout Technologies, Inc., the global leader in device visibility and control, announced it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to participate in a project with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) titled “Firmware Command and Control.” The purpose of the Firmware Command and Control project is to identify potential vulnerabilities that exist in ubiquitous libraries by using machine learning similarity analysis of embedded code and sharing those findings in a structured format for processing across operational and information technology environments. In addition to INL, Forescout will also partner with Argonne National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Forescout expects to contribute core desired capabilities to this project, including detection of IP-enabled devices in real-time, easily defined policy-based control, continuous monitoring and retention of information on component interactions, integration with major security incident event management (SIEM) and information technology security management (ITSM) products, and the ability to accomplish these activities in a non-intrusive manner without installation of agents. Forescout will advise in the project’s design and development, helping to ensure that the Firmware Command and Control project will interface with Forescout products and have feasibility for potential commercialization after the project concludes.

According to Katherine Gronberg, vice president of government affairs, Forescout: “We are looking forward to collaborating with INL to utilize machine learning to add a response capability on an embedded system that can be shared in larger IT environments. Cutting-edge technologies such as these will allow us to improve the security of national critical infrastructures.”

Source: Forescout media announcement