Telefónica Tech launches security monitoring service for OT, IoT

Telefónica Tech has launched a security monitoring service for operational technology (OT), and Internet of Things (IoT) environments. The service inspects network traffic to visualize the assets connected to the network, analyze and highlight vulnerabilities, and detect potential threats in the environment.

The service includes a technological layer, based on the technology of Nozomi Networks, a leading company in OT and IoT cybersecurity bundled with managed services provided by Telefónica Tech. The service is managed by teams of OT & IoT specialists present in Telefónica Tech’s global network of 11 security operations centers (SOCs).

Telefónica Tech’s new service passively analyses the customer’s network traffic (i.e. mirrored traffic is examined to avoid impacting or modifying the network) through the use of probes installed in the company’s infrastructure. These passive probes interpret industrial protocols to identify connected assets and their vulnerabilities, with analytics to determine anomalies and threats in the environment, producing alerts that contain meta data providing asset and process context.

Telefónica Tech’s experts assess and manage the alerts, warning the customer when serious incidents are detected in the network. To support this, Telefónica Tech has implemented its own automated procedures that take advantage of the capabilities of Telefónica Tech’s SOCs. In addition, the health status of the probes are proactively monitored, ensuring that the service is permanently operational. Moreover, Reports are created for customers with all the information.

The service will initially be marketed in Spain and subsequently developed in other markets where the company is present. This new service significantly advances Telefónica Tech’s security monitoring capabilities for OT, and IoT field environments, including certification within Nozomi Networks’ MSSP Elite program.

“We are very proud that Telefónica Tech has achieved MSSP Elite program certification. Telefónica Tech has successfully hardened and streamlined the service, demonstrating practice maturity and professionalism, process robustness, and a high degree of automation advancements,” said Chet Namboodri, Nozomi Networks SVP, Global Alliances and Business Development.

“This service, based on Nozomi Networks’ technology, enhances the ability of our SOCs to monitor the security of companies operating in industrial environments and critical infrastructures. It will help accelerate the digital transformation of these businesses. Expanding our services allows us to be at the forefront and offer the most innovative solutions to our customers,” said Rames Sarwat, Product & Innovation Director at Telefónica Tech.

Telefónica Tech strengthens its collaboration with Nozomi Networks announced in 2020, when both companies allied to offer advanced IT security and OT services worldwide, and corroborates its strategic commitment to industrial cybersecurity, which was also evident two years ago by investing in the company itself, through Telefónica’s corporate venture capital vehicle, Telefónica Ventures.