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I actually thought that the whole DCOM technology situation was over. That is an old Microsoft Windows technology long since passed by in usefulness. Except, there’s a lot of it laying around with OPC Classic. As we often say, technologies change slowly in industrial and manufacturing applications. This is a potential snafu. I first wrote about Velta Technology last September. This news is about a partnership to offer a solution to the looming hardening of DCOM.
Velta Technology and TXOne Networks Inc. are teaming to help organizations safeguard their industrial control systems (ICS) and avoid potential revenue disruptions ahead of an imminent Microsoft Windows Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) hardening patch enablement. In the absence of a proper mitigation strategy, the DCOM hardening patch could potentially shut down ICS equipment impacting plant production and operations.
Beginning March 14, 2023, the Microsoft hardening patch can no longer be disabled and will trigger a forced update which strengthens authentication between DCOM clients and servers. The patch is a core component of automation software products from companies such as Rockwell Automation, GE, Honeywell, Siemens, and others.
Velta Technology and TXOne Networks have partnered to provide a cost-effective and time-efficient interim solution that will maintain operations following the patch. Velta Technology’s industrial cybersecurity experts are utilizing TXOne Networks’ Stellar endpoint protection as a stopgap to the hardening patch, providing customers ample time to develop a more manageable, long-term solution.
