Wurldtech and Shell announce global cooperation for increased infrastructure protection

March 31, 2009

Wurldtech and Shell have announced a global partnership to ensure cyber security for all of Shell's infrastructure around the world.

What does this mean?

Wurldtech and Shell have announced a global partnership to ensure cyber security for all of Shell's infrastructure around the world.

What does this mean?

Shell to adopt Achilles to test all process control network components: Operators have long felt that they were an extended piece of the product QA cycle and until now have been at the mercy of the vendor’s security representations. By using Achilles throughout their global operations to test everything from PLC’s to Firewalls, Shell can subject network components to the most powerful robustness testing on the market as part of their standard risk assessment activities. This will certainly drive vendors to pay attention to security as no company wants their customer to find dirty laundry before they do.

Shell Insists On Achilles Certification: Joining BP with formal requirements for control systems to be Achilles Certified, Shell will now integrate the program requirements into factory acceptance testing criteria and help standardize the program throughout the industry to bridge the gap before an international standard (SP99) is completed.

Shell Tells Wurldtech What They Want: Having reviewed many security products and determined there were very few acceptable systems available today to meet their needs, Shell and Wurldtech have jointly created the plans for a new risk mitigation technology that will leverage the vulnerability information from Delphi vulnerability information. This will be very exciting and stay tuned for more information.

Here's the text of the press release:

Wurldtech™ and Oil & Gas Industry Leader Shell Cooperate to Drive Cyber Security Improvements Throughout Infrastructure Supply Chain

Industrial Cyber-Security Pioneer Provides Testing and Certification Solutions To Proactively Diagnose, Mitigate and Manage Cyber Risk Throughout Upstream & Downstream Operations

Vancouver, BC, Canada – March 31, 2009 – Wurldtech™ Security Technologies, a leading provider of cyber-risk and compliance management solutions for industrial automation industries worldwide, and Shell, one of world’s largest oil companies, today announced that the two organizations have entered into a broad cooperation focused on improving the security and reliability of Shell’s global operations. The cooperation will include the integration of Wurldtech’s award-winning network testing platform, Achilles Satellite, into Shell’s internal testing & risk assessment activities, the adoption of Wurldtech’s Achilles Level 1 Certification into procurement requirements and factory acceptance tests, and the joint research and development of proactive cyber threat mitigation technologies.
 
“We are very pleased to be working with Wurldtech, a partner clearly committed to the advancement of intelligent cyber security solutions for the oil industry with a proven track record of thought-leadership,” said Ted Angevaare, Global Technology Leader Process Automation for Shell. “This cooperation will compliment Shell’s ongoing cyber security initiatives and provides our world-class security team with the technology necessary to drive significant security improvements throughout our process control networks.”
 
The first step in this cooperation involves the adoption of Wurldtech’s Achilles Satellite testing platform by Shell’s internal DACA security team. The Satellite will be used throughout Shell’s testing facilities and as a major part of ongoing cyber risk assessment activities to gain a greater level of visibility into the robustness of their current and future industrial automation networks. To extend this effort, Shell will also start to phase-in Wurldtech’s globally recognized cyber security certification criteria into their vendor procurement requirements and factory acceptance tests. This will start with the introduction of Achilles Level 1 certification for embedded controllers and evolve into categories for other devices and applications such as DCS HMI’s and network communication infrastructure.

Finally, with patch management also being a major concern to operators of industrial automation networks, Wurldtech and Shell will combine resources to accelerate the development of next generation cyber risk management technologies. Driven by Wurldtech’s Delphi database, the world’s only source of vulnerability and threat analytics specific to the controls industry, the resulting solutions will provide significant advancements in today’s risk mitigation strategies by integrating automated intelligence into existing infrastructure to remediate errors known to jeopardize process integrity as soon as the errors are identified.
 
”The security team at Shell has consistently demonstrated strong leadership and a proactive approach when it comes to protecting the reliability of their global infrastructure, and we are extremely excited to help raise the bar even further,” said Tyler Williams, President & CEO of Wurldtech Security Technologies. “This cooperation will not only enable Shell to enhance their own internal cyber security posture, but also represents the first step in a larger scale effort to provide a scalable reference model and business case from which to drive benefit-driven cyber security improvements throughout critical infrastructures worldwide.”