Assets

The availability and security of production plants is of great importance in industrial environments. Integration of the process control system into the corporate network increases the risk of damage by viruses or malware.

In order to avoid production failures and downtimes, data traffic between the networks must be checked, analyzed and selectively approved without impairing the function of the process control system. Only in this way is it possible to provide optimum protection for the plant without impairing productivity. Firewalls with supplementary services are most appropriate for this.

The Automation Firewall from Siemens is a tested and validated standard firewall available in two performance classes (Automation Firewall 200 and 1000). It has been tuned for use with SIMATIC PCS 7 and WinCC.

The Automation Firewall works excellently with SIMATIC NET communication products. It features comprehensive hardware and software functions for SIMATIC PCS 7 and WinCC projects, e.g.:

• Stateful Inspection packet filter
• Application layer firewall
• VPN gateway
• Intrusion Detection System (based on Suricata IDS)
• Antivirus (optional add‑on)
• Web proxy
• Industrial Wizard

The value of the Automation Firewall is increased even further by integrated services, e.g.:

• Hotline support
• Replacement service
• Software Update Service

Depending on the plant configuration and size, the Automation Firewall is preferably used as:

• Three-homed firewall for small to medium-sized plants with minimal perimeter network
• Front and back firewall for maximum protection in larger plants with extensive perimeter network

Note:

Use of the Automation Firewall 200 or 1000 is independent of the version of the SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system on which the process control installation is based.