Forescout and ServiceNow advance tech partnership to protect critical infrastructure
Forescout and ServiceNow have announced they are advancing their partnership for enhanced operational technology (OT) and industrial IoT capabilities, with an aim of helping organisations to protect critical infrastructure from cyber threats.
The new technology integration is said to help ensure integrity and stability of critical infrastructure through improving asset intelligence as well as threat prevention, detection and response for industrial control systems (ICS) and OT environments.
The integration allows security teams to make informed decisions based on device type and environment to close the security gap from unmanaged OT devices and improve performance in crucial metrics such as 'mean time to resolve' (MTTR) in remediating vulnerable or affected systems.
Combining complementary technologies for OT discovery, threat detection and configuration management, the Forescout-ServiceNow integrated solution centralises security and improves resiliency in manufacturing, energy, transportation and other sectors where increasingly internet-connected infrastructure is often invisible to traditional cybersecurity controls, the companies state.
Customers using Forescout to continuously discover and monitor OT and ICS environments can now leverage ServiceNow's powerful configuration management database (CMDB) platform for more efficient asset, service and security management.
The integration features a data-driven ability to automate device discovery, CMDB updates and prioritised remediation or incident management workflows based on risk level, easily scaling defences with technology and business demands.
As Forescout detects a device is non-compliant or compromised, an appropriate ServiceNow incident is created and aligned with CMDB asset record.
Forescout can also automatically respond to the incident with relevant network or system actions per policy and keeps CMDB asset record accurate with real-time device context.
This creates an end-to-end asset intelligence and incident management system that proactively reduces risk with streamlined operations.
Forescout chief product and strategy officer Pedro Abreu says, "Forescout and ServiceNow are introducing the future of integrated OT network defence.
"Combining Forescout's strength in control system discovery, classification and threat recognition with the power of ServiceNow CMDB, which provides a single system of record for IT, will help eliminate network blind spots.
"It also reduces needless manual task hours and uncertainty currently threatening the OT and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) landscape today.
As a ServiceNow design partner, Forescout played a role in helping ServiceNow create new and standardised IoT and OT classes for the ServiceNow CMDB, enabling a comprehensive CMBD based on real-time device profiles across IT, IoT and OT.
ServiceNow vice president and general manager of ITOM, Security and CMDB Jeff Hausman says, "ServiceNow CMDB is the data platform for IT.
"Data enrichment of the ServiceNow CMDB via Forescout continuous device discovery and automatic workflows helps customers drive transformation, deliver services and provide operational resilience.
"ServiceNow and Forescout enable security teams to better understand their organisation's OT and industrial IoT devices and expedite incident response to protect critical infrastructure.
The companies will continue working closely together to design the future of ServiceNow's CMDB to accommodate a growing array of device types.
IDC research director of Security - Trust Robyn Westervelt says, "Forescout's integration with ServiceNow's CMDB eliminates the need for spreadsheets and manual task of populating OT assets into an organisation's CMDB.
"A continuous and up-to-date CMDB across IT and OT eliminates blind spots and reduces cyber risk.
The enhanced OT and industrial IoT Forescout-ServiceNow capabilities are available now.
