My Experience at the National Homeland Security Conference

Each year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) holds its annual 3-day national conference to discuss emerging security trends and preview the latest technology and solutions working to support its mission. Professionals in homeland security, law enforcement, fire and emergency management, officials from federal and nonprofit agencies, business owners, and cybersecurity professionals travel from around the country to attend.  

As a Solutions Architect for SealingTech and proud 20-year U.S. Army Veteran, I strive to advance cyberspace warfighting capabilities for the DoD and its armed forces. So, when I was given the opportunity to present at the DHS Conference this past July in Miami Beach, Florida, I welcomed the chance. Here are some highlights from my presentation: “Small Form Factor Sensors Deliver Enhanced Mission Capabilities” along with my key takeaways from the event. 

Next-Generation Small Form Factor Sensor Platforms 

For mission operators, the key to identifying anomalies and potential risks before they escalate lies in establishing a baseline of your operational environment and maintaining its continuity. It’s difficult to be proactive searching for threats when you’re blind to what’s out there or face lapses in visibility and information. 

Challenges exist with traditional enterprise monitoring methods. For one, they limit visibility of your operational technology (OT) assets and provide limited access. And two, they also tend to be resource-intensive, requiring significant power and bandwidth that is often limited in Purdue Levels 0 through 3. 

Small form factor sensors provide a versatile and cost-effective alternative to traditional monitoring methods because they enable passive monitoring and real-time threat detection of your OT assets while giving you a broader understanding of your environment.  

Access your asset inventory on one screen 

SealingTech’s small form sensor and analytic nodes can ingest and preprocess data from your IT and OT systems. Their sensing capabilities leverage passive collection techniques to extract packets, logs, and traffic flows. Receiving a passive identification and inventory of all your assets provides a comprehensive picture of your operational environment. 

Make more informed decisions understanding your network’s traffic

Our passive first approach to data collection ensures that your networks remain protected without introducing additional risk or workload to assets. SealingTech’s sensors can come preloaded with a third-party cybersecurity tool of your choosing to provide real-time threat analysis and then offload pertinent data to analytic node(s) for further analysis 

Extensibility beyond traditional enterprise boundaries 

SealingTech’s sensors’ compact size and scalability facilitate seamless integration into your existing OT infrastructure frameworks. Mission operators can proactively identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities without complex and invasive overhauls of their operating environment. 

Compact form factor also allows for positive control during transportation and reduces the footprint for optimal integration in tight spaces. Our modular configurable sensor platform also enables customers to adapt their operations on the fly for their mission critical needs.  

Key takeaways 

At this year’s conference, I spoke with a vendor who was interested in how SealingTech can help its port facility conduct cyber risk assessments and prepare for malicious threats. As ports have increasingly digitalized their operations, protecting their networks and assets has become critical. Most don’t have adequate cybersecurity measures in place and their port cybersecurity remains woefully behind. 

SealingTech can fix this. Like we’ve done for the US Coast Guard, our solutions enable operators to perform cyber risk assessments at their ports cost-effectively. By modernizing their cybersecurity capabilities, we reduce vulnerabilities and avoid a cybersecurity breach from impacting other ports and doing catastrophic damage. 

Another highlight for me at the conference was getting visibility into state and local governments. I discovered that many organizations at the local level don’t have robust cyber capabilities and were deciding how to proceed.  

In my conversations, I described how SealingTech currently develops agile and tailored cybersecurity solutions for the Federal Government and its armed forces. And how SealingTech can tailor a system for them from the ground up, aligning with their current operational needs. I look forward to the opportunity to take our expertise and put it to work at the local level to safeguard communities from cyberattacks.   

For more information about SealingTech’s cybersecurity capabilities or to learn more about small form factor sensors and analytic nodes, contact Justin.Hunsaker@SealingTech.com.