In addition to central management via Endian Switchboard and VPN encryption, the security of the production facilities themselves is an important issue: that’s why SFS has equipped each plant with an Endian 4i appliance, an industrial firewall that filters out malicious traffic and protects the flow of data. These devices can be integrated into existing IT infrastructures: for example, there is the possibility of integrating 4i devices behind an existing e company firewall. In turn, the 4i devices connect to the central management tool, Endian Switchboard, which provides simple and coordinated management of the devices. For SFS, Endian 4i made it possible to connect its systems to the Internet via Network Address Translation (NAT), since the devices themselves did not have a public IP address.

More security and transparency: network segmentation

With the goal of further increasing network security and transparency, Robert Steiger, Project Manager Business Application & Security, placed great emphasis on separating the office network, the plant network, and the warehouse management systems network. “Phishing attacks can infect office computers with malware,” he explains “Segmentation of the networks prevents malware from spreading to production systems as well.”

When choosing a suitable solution, Robert Steiger put ease of use at the forefront. Of all the solutions that were considered for SFS, Endian was able to combine a high number of features with great ease of use. “The central management tool, Endian Switchboard, is ideal for our needs, as all machines can be centrally controlled, protected and repaired,” says Steiger.

Expanding internationally

To date, SFS has equipped eight production facilities with Endian 4i devices in Germany, France, Turkey, the Czech Republic and China. The connection of ten more plants is already in the planning phase, as Endian also offers the right solution for international facilities. Different production plants, but with the same subnet are among the most common challenges in industrial networks, as implementing a central VPN management tool without significant intervention is very complex, if not virtually impossible: Endian Secure Digital Platform is the only solution on the market that can easily solve the routing problem to ensure smooth operation.