Eaton Announces Industry’s First Lab Approved for Participation in UL Program for Cybersecurity Testing of Intelligent Products

February 15, 2018

Power management company Eaton announced today it is collaborating with global safety science organization UL to advance cybersecurity for power management technologies across industries. The collaboration is helping to establish measurable cybersecurity criteria for network-connected power management products and systems. In addition, Eaton’s cybersecurity research and testing facility in Pittsburgh is the first lab approved to participate in UL’s Data Acceptance Program for cybersecurity. 

Eaton’s cybersecurity research and testing facility in Pittsburgh now has the capability to test Eaton products with intelligence or embedded logic to key aspects of the UL 2900-1 and 2900-2-2 Standards. Through this environment and Eaton’s rigorous cybersecurity process, Eaton is developing a growing portfolio of products to meet stringent specifications, regulations and consumer expectations for safe, secure power management.

Cybersecurity is one of manufacturing’s most critical risk factors (source: BDO 2016 report) and the number of security incidents in this sector was nearly 40 percent higher than the average across all industries (source: 2017 IBM X0Force Threat Intelligence Index). While manufacturers continue to innovate and build safer and more secure technologies, assessing risk is critical as cyber-attacks become more complex and difficult to guard against.

“A connected world needs trusted environments, and as we introduce more and smarter technology that enables us to link more elements of everyday life, trust becomes increasingly important,” said Michael Regelski, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Eaton’s electrical business. “Eaton’s collaboration with UL further expands our commitment to continue advancing these new technologies and innovations, while building trust and ensuring the highest level of defense against emerging cybersecurity threats.”

In another milestone, Eaton’s Power Xpert Dashboard recently became the first power management product certified to the UL 2900-2-2 Standard for cybersecurity in industrial control systems. This user portal to Eaton’s switchgear enables customers to monitor, diagnose and control equipment from a location outside the arc flash boundary.

Through UL’s innovative Cybersecurity Assurance Program, Eaton, UL and other industry organizations are working together to establish foundational requirements for testing of network-connectable industrial control systems to enable protection against vulnerabilities and security risk controls.

“We seek to help manufacturers, their customers and other stakeholders mitigate security risks through science-based assessment and evaluation,” said Ben Miller, president of the Commercial and Industrial business unit of UL. “Our collaboration with experts at Eaton is providing some of the crucial inputs to developing the technical expertise for new standards, and it’s helping advance UL’s efforts to protect our world’s critical infrastructure against ever-increasing cybersecurity threats.”

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