A flexible, OT-specific, secure private access solution for controlled access to designated OT assets and services, easy user management, and both capex and opex purchasing options.
OT Access is a cloud-hosted, software-defined network remote access product with support for encrypted microtunnels, two-factor authentication, Microsoft Active Directory users and groups, and specific endpoint access capabilities oriented around OT network security requirements.
OT Access provides content-based in-session policy enforcement for certain defined rulesets, and the available list of policies will expand automatically with no user intervention required.
| OT Access | Software-defined networking tools | VPNs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session Origination | |||
| Session Origination | Outbound only via SSL from customer to policy engine | Inbound- or outbound, depending on product/vendor | Inbound through/to perimeter firewalls |
| Session Types | |||
| Session Types | Single-user to single-service permissions | User-to-network permission defaults | Network-to-network permission defaults |
| Local-user or AD users/groups | |||
| Local-user or AD users/groups | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Native OT protocol support | |||
| Native OT protocol support | Yes, including deep inspection | Port-level only | n/a |
| Native content-based policy enforcement | |||
| Native content-based policy enforcement | Yes | No | n/a |
OT Access is a competitive alternative to both generic enterprise VPN products and software-defined networking tools. It offers native policy controls for OT protocols and supports single pane of glass administration via a customer’s private cloud instance of the management portal.
| FINS | Modbus | OPCUA | S7 | SLMP | RDP | VNC | HTTP/S | sftp | ssh | telnet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read-only | |||||||||||
| Read-only | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Read-write | |||||||||||
| Read-write | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| No SQL Injection1 | |||||||||||
| No SQL Injection1 | X | ||||||||||
| No XSS2 | |||||||||||
| No XSS2 | X | ||||||||||
| Single endpoint | |||||||||||
| Single Endpoint | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Figure 1: OT Access Services View
Figure 2: OT Access Client Software
Once you place an order or submit a purchase order to Bayshore, our team will begin the provisioning process for your dedicated OT Access Cloud. You’ll be given administrative credentials when it’s ready; while that’s in progress, you can install the OT Access Endpoint Gateway software we’ll provide to you.
Your next step is to create users and services. Users can be locally authenticated within your OT Access Cloud, or you can provide access to your AD server via LDAP. AD server setup is useful because it uses the same proxy model as any other OT Access service, so it’s good practice for learning how to use the web interface.
Finally you can provide the remote access client to the external users. It will be pre-configured to point to your OT Access Cloud. They can install it and, assuming their credentials are already valid, immediately gain access to any services for which their accounts are enabled.
Note: Beacon was the former name for OT Access
Q: How is OT Access different from a VPN?
A: OT Access controls access by protocol, port, and user. Before any access is permitted, OT Access requires a service on an endpoint to have been exposed (defining both the target port and protocol/service) and a user has to have been given explicit permission to access that endpoint/service combination.
Q: What is the OT Access transport architecture?
A: The OT Access Endpoint Gateway initiates a standard SSL tunnel from within your network to your provisioned cloud instance of the OT Access management interface. That tunnel is persistent by default, and only ever initiated from within your network to the external destination. Authorized remote users initiate a connection request from their locations via the OT Access client, which connects to your dedicated cloud instance, authenticates the user, and then maps their attempt connection to the known list of authorized endpoint/service destinations. If those checks all succeed, the cloud instance of the OT Access software proxies the remote user’s session into the OT Access Endpoint Gateway which, in turn, proxies it again to the actual target endpoint.
Q: Does OT Access support AD integration via LDAP?
A: Yes. OT Access can be configured to validate user and group credentials via your company’s AD server. To use this feature, the AD server is exposed to your OT Access cloud instance using a standard OT Access tunnel, and the LDAP queries are submitted during each user authentication action.
Q: Does OT Access support 2FA?
A: Yes. OT Access requests a mobile number for each user and uses SMS to submit an authorization code to that number each time the user authenticates themselves to the system.
Q: Is OT Access available in an appliance format I can deploy onsite?
A: Not yet. Our intention is to start with the cloud hosted version of OT Access and to make a purely on-premise version available in 2019.
Q: Can I use OT Access to enable persistent site-to-site OT protocol tunnels?
A: Yes. Contact us to discuss this use case in more detail.
Q: Can I get a trial or demo of OT Access?
A: You can subscribe for one month at the minimum subscription level, with no further obligation.
Q: When will OT Access be available?
A: OT Access subscriptions are available now.
