TDi Technologies has just launched their ConsoleWorks Remote Access Management solution that has been “designed to meet the strictest remote access cyber security and compliance requirements of the NERC-CIP standard while also improving operational efficiencies.”

Requirements for NERC (News - Alert)-CIP compliance continue to grow more complex as documentation solutions alone cannot guarantee security. The combination of IT security for cyber critical assets, the creation of electronic security perimeters and the tracking of physical access to critical assets for employees and contractors, even after they have been terminated, poses a daunting challenge for most security teams, according to a press release. 

"Remote access provides a way for administrators to quickly react to operational issues, regardless of where they are physically located," said Pam Johnson, director of Solutions Marketing at TDi Technologies, in a statement. 

The new ConsoleWorks Remote Access Management facilitates access by those authorized users who depend on remote access to do their job, while providing a staunch defense against access by unauthorized users and protection against attacks, Johnson added. In addition, the NERC compliance solution protects utility providers from external, unauthorized access.

Monitoring all remote activity in real- time, ConsoleWorks Remote Access Management enforces access rights for authorized remote users and carries out the role of the Intermediate Device, as specified in the NERC-CIP specification. This includes encryption of remote sessions; multi-factor identification (SecureID); and patch level validation.

To further ensure NERC-CIP compliance, all remote access activity is documented down to the keystroke for absolute accountability, oversight and transparency. The solution captures the data and produces the documentation needed by NERC-CIP to 'prove the practice'.

"ConsoleWorks Remote Access Management provides a highly secure solution that meets even the most demanding requirements of utility organizations,” said Bill Johnson, founder and CEO of TDi Technologies, in a statement. “The benefits of security, compliance and performance improvement within a single solution are an important part of the unique value offered by the solution.”

"In most cases, our NERC-CIP solutions yield significant cost reductions, just through improvements in performance that often provide solution payback in less than a year,” Johnson concluded.