At present, Saudi Aramco plants are secured against intrusions from the corporate network by preventing traffic flow via a security device that enforces one-way communication. This device “data-diode” is currently procured and supported from a foreign based company.

The majority of commercially offered solutions did not initially suit Saudi Aramco purposes, where an extended effort was provided to develop a working solution with these select vendors. These solutions are currently used as standard offering to other companies for a paid license while its software development cost were covered by Saudi Aramco during the initial development life cycle of the product. With the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution it is expected to develop more applications on the data diodes which will be a cost to the company while it could be a profit generator. Yet, more importantly, this development will localize a niche technology that is required for the security of many critical infrastructures, therefore the ownership of the hardware and software development becomes a pivotal matter and with importance to the national interest.

Manufacturing this appliance will add to the Saudi local content in a niche market with no regional manufacturers. Saudi Aramco IT will engage with its experts in the field of cybersecurity engineering to design and manufacture the data diodes and domain solutions to international standards and best practices by applying security in the early stages of the product development life cycle to support national cybersecurity interests.


This development has contributed the following, but not limited to:
• Produce the first nationally manufactured data diode appliance.
• An addition to the local content of the economy in a niche market in the cyber security arena that could lead to many potential opportunities in the future.
• Knowledge enrichment, lesson learned and/or even joint patents associated with the manufacturing improvement opportunities.

https://www.saudiaramco.com/

• Saudi Arabia

During the past few years, the number of cyber-attacks against enterprises and critical industrial networks has grown up steadily. Introducing new pervasive and far-reaching technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT) and IT/OT, demands a solid, highly effective security approach. Air-gapping is one of the most effective cybersecurity approaches and the Data Diode is its flagship. A Data Diode secures networks by enforcing, via hardware, one-way traffic flow, rendering attacks from outside of the network virtually impossible. Saudi Aramco and AEC have developed the first local cybersecurity solution to protect critical assets. with a 1Gpbs throughput and the ability to support multiple applications, such as: real time data, Plant Information (PI), Security Monitoring Logs (syslog), SCADA protocols, among others, a next generation Data Diode has been introduced to the cybersecurity field. This new solution consolidates the best features found in the market and is capable of competing with leaders in the field.