Nozomi Networks Helps Facilitate Security for Gerdau's Industrial Environment

Process visibility, asset inventory, and scalable cloud-based security are essential to keep up with the leading steelmaker’s industrial innovation roadmap

SÃO PAULO, May 24, 2023 — Nozomi Networks, the leader in OT and IoT security, today announced Gerdau, the leading steelmaker in Brazil, has chosen the Nozomi Vantage platform to safely monitor its technological advancements in Industry 4.0. Vantage supports business continuity and reduces operational risk in a sustainable way.

As Gerdau’s industrial environment becomes hyperconnected, features such as process visibility, asset inventory, anomaly control, and cloud-based scalability have become essential to achieve the company’s aggressive business innovation goals without compromising either resiliency or Gerdau’s strict requirements for cybersecurity.

To meet these needs, Gerdau chose Nozomi Networks’ Vantage platform. The cloud-based solution provides an added layer of cybersecurity. It offers flexible options for implementation that promote economies of scale and reduce operational cost. Plant operators and security professionals have access to risk management resources and reports in an easy, secure manner, with privacy, agility, and accessibility from anywhere at any time. Because it is a SaaS model, Vantage allows Gerdau to create unlimited virtual machines (VMs) and have the flexibility to distribute monitoring resources where they are needed within the company’s architecture to get the best possible visibility of the environment.

Vitor Sena, global CISO at Gerdau, sees the OT cybersecurity approach as a point that needs to be worked on very carefully, because it is not the same as the IT approach. He points out that the cost of not protecting an OT environment will always be higher.

“For critical infrastructure, the main security aspect is availability, so we can’t apply the standard IT security concept to OT because it simply won’t work. The configuration needs to be customized to allow for quick detection of any incident. Nozomi Networks’ Vantage brought us the clarity we needed in our environment and the scalability and flexibility that we wouldn’t have with a traditional security model,” concludes Sena.

Asset inventory and control of operational and cyber anomalies is quickly becoming a priority in industrial environments like Gerdau’s, as they are strongly associated with operational risk reduction, business continuity, and cyber and physical security. In addition, asset inventory also assists in predictive maintenance on machinery, reducing the chances of downtime and failure.

Nycholas Szucko, Nozomi Networks LATAM Regional Director, says it is gratifying to see Gerdau and other large Brazilian companies increasingly prioritizing security in their innovation initiatives.

“The asset inventory, for example, is fundamental to mapping the connected devices and, from there, apply the necessary security controls. After all, it is only possible to protect what can be seen. When decision makers understand this importance and we are part of projects like Gerdau’s, we know that we are on the right path and that the cybersecurity maturity of the companies in LATAM are evolving,” explains Szucko.

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