N-Dimension Selected by Central Florida Electric Cooperative - Helps Improve Utility’s Cybersecurity Posture

N-Sentinel Identifies Cybersecurity Issues Missed by Other Devices

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario--()--N-Dimension, the leader in innovative cybersecurity solutions protecting distributed smart energy networks from cyber threats, today announced Central Florida Electric Cooperative (CFEC) is using its N-Sentinel Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. N-Sentinel delivers comprehensive cybersecurity monitoring, real-time alerts and threat information via in-depth reports, providing customers with visibility and specific information in an easy to understand format that enables them to take timely action to improve their security posture. In addition, N-Sentinel uniquely provides utility community cyber threat insights that gives visibility into security threats affecting other utilities, enabling timely proactive steps to be taken to protect their network, data and assets.

CFEC provides electric service to more than 32,000 customers across six less populated counties in north central Florida. It is a community focused, not-for-profit organization, which strives to offer affordable and reliable power as well as high quality service to its customers. CFEC’s Information Services Manager, George Buckner, identified cybersecurity as one of the essential building blocks they needed to ensure the utility continues to meet its goals. He realized that he needed more insight into cyber threats and guidance on what actions to take.

“As a result of having N-Sentinel in our network I feel like we have a granular filter to identify potential cyber threats plus provide us with specific guidance on what actions for our IT team to take to improve our security,” said Bucker. “We have learned that threat data is just that unless you turn it into something you can use to take action.”

CFEC had already installed a Unified Threat Management (UTM) device to monitor outbound network traffic for potential security threats. IT found that the alerts and logs from the UTM provided a lot of data, making it extremely time consuming to analyze it. As a result, IT was not able to review the data and determine actions to take to improve their security posture in a timely manner, reducing its value to the utility.

N-Sentinel was installed at CFEC to augment the UTM and monitor the utility’s network traffic around the network perimeter and inside the network. The benefits CFEC has seen with N-Sentinel are twofold. First, N-Sentinel provided 24 x 7 monitoring and its alerts identified the cyber threats detected by the perimeter UTM device. In addition, N-Sentinel provided a large amount of information that allowed CFEC to identify configuration issues that the UTM missed inside their network.

Oftentimes threats find a way to penetrate the network using legitimate communications channels - something that is difficult for some security devices to detect. These threats can then exploit configuration issues to further their foothold within the network. Further penetration into the network can then go unnoticed because the breach bypasses the initial security gate. N-Sentinel not only monitors internal traffic for attack patterns, but also gives the utility insight into the nature of the communications in their network – including communications that are being made via insecure or vulnerable protocols. This type of advanced warning into vulnerabilities can enable the utility to take action to avoid the risk of threats.

Secondly, an integral part of N-Sentinel is a combination of cloud-based intelligent threat analysis and in-depth actionable threat reports. In addition to identifying and classifying security alerts, N-Sentinel provided CFEC with detailed analysis of the cybersecurity issues and systems affected. N-Sentinel reports offered recommendations on actions the utility could take to reduce the risks. Access to N-Sentinel cybersecurity experts provided CFEC IT with additional support and expertise to help them improve their security posture.

“Cyber threats and protecting against them requires ongoing vigilance,” said Tom Ayers, CEO N-Dimension. “N-Sentinel provides the continuous threat monitoring, in-depth data and analysis by security experts that enables utilities to take timely action to improve their security posture. We help utilities make sense of security data so they can take a proactive stance against cyber threats.”

About N-Dimension Solutions
N-Dimension is a market leader in the development of innovative cybersecurity solutions that protect distributed smart energy networks from cyber attacks, improving system reliability and safeguarding critical infrastructure, data and assets. The company’s N-Sentinel is a cloud-based SaaS offering that delivers real-time threat detection and alerts in addition to uniquely combining utility community cybersecurity data and security intelligence to enable utilities to take action in protecting themselves against cyber threats. N-Dimension is the exclusive cybersecurity partner of Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA) and an associate member of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

For more information about N-Sentinel and to request a free on-site trial, visit our website at www.n-sentinel.com. Please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and check out our blog.

Contacts

N-Dimension
Denise Barton, 408-219-3403
denise.barton@n-dimension.com

Contacts

N-Dimension
Denise Barton, 408-219-3403
denise.barton@n-dimension.com