Company Protected Vital Water Utilities

This company offers critical services to essential operators, while also running two major water companies that deliver more than 100 million liters of clean water daily to more than 1.6 million people. Protecting these essential operations from cyberthreats is paramount. By deploying Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, the company gained the robust visibility and control needed to secure this vital infrastructure.

The organization’s IT environment is a unique mix that supports both business operations and water utilities. Authorized personnel can access IT and OT (operational technology) systems through methods such as MPLS and VPN. Both environments feature legacy and specialized technology, including programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that automate water treatment processes. The company needed to protect its networks from cyberthreats and unauthorized access, while also providing secure IT access for the OT team.

With increased regulatory scrutiny and heightened cyber risks in the water sector, the company knew it had to step up security. Although it had segmented workstations, secured north-south traffic, and started moving legacy apps to the cloud, its legacy servers — including those installed in its DMZ —  needed better protection.

“The biggest challenge was understanding what’s going on across our environments and applying IT best practices on legacy and unsupported technologies, along with those that can’t be protected in the typical fashion,” explained the Head of IT Services.

After a comprehensive review of its security measures, the organization chose Akamai Guardicore Segmentation to ensure granular segmentation and visibility of its environments. As the Head of IT Services explained, the utility company quickly ruled out other options. “It would have been time-consuming and expensive to purchase, install, and maintain the necessary hardware. Software-agent-based Akamai Guardicore Segmentation allowed us to quickly reduce risk in our environments,” he said.

Using Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, the organization segmented hundreds of critical servers and systems, like water treatment controls, from the corporate network. This setup provided a real-time view of the IT and OT environments, making it possible to prevent unwanted east-west traffic. “With Akamai Guardicore Segmentation’s single interface, we can monitor the entire environment and limit server activities,” explained the Head of IT Services.

“Even if someone gains network access, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides us the visibility to restrict their movement. We now have early warnings to address potential threats faster,” he added.

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation also simplified the company’s compliance with the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which audits water safety in the United Kingdom. “One focus of DWI audits is confirming we are controlling east-west traffic between and across our networks. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation confirms we are applying the right controls, and helps us provide clear evidence,” the Head of IT Services said.

According to the Head of IT Services, the deeper level of understanding about the organization’s environments has been invaluable and has delivered unexpected benefits. The IT team now understands how network changes will impact other systems, helping it ensure no interruptions in operations. It can also identify ways to improve IT efficiency, such as by minimizing server interactions that unnecessarily consume bandwidth.

In fact, the company significantly improved its service desk process because of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation. “The team can now easily and quickly rule out nonissues, focusing on real problems instead of wasting time by troubleshooting with no visibility,” the Head of IT Services concluded.