Ardexa, a global IoT platform provider, has expanded its feature set with a secure and fast remote working toolkit for renewable energy operations. Traditional remote access tools can be complex to install and securely manage, particularly for large portfolios. Ardexa has a simplified toolkit, enabling granular access management and full portfolio oversight, including event audit logs. In addition, the new Ardexa Remote solution only requires an inexpensive edge computer at the plant, significantly reducing hardware costs. Most importantly, security is significantly enhanced.
Ardexa Remote relies on a Public Key Infrastructure (digital certificates, authentication, encryption) and enables two connection methods, tunnel and VPN:
Ardexa Tunnel allows highly secure access to a specified machine and significantly reduces the risk of malware.
Ardexa VPN allows access to the entire machine network. This broader access method, while very efficient, should only be used when simultaneous connections to multiple machines in a single network are required.
Additional security benefits are gained by not allowing open ports and ensuring connections to the tunnel are closed automatically when the session is finished. Granular access control to networks and plants, down to the machine level, can be set using the Ardexa cloud platform. Remote access can be immediately revoked by the account administrator, as required and all activities are stored in an immutable security log, enabling forensic analysis of all events. This is extremely useful following any suspected intrusions into a plant network.
“Ardexa Remote makes remote access much more secure than traditional methods. Once implemented, the edge computer running Ardexa Remote can be rapidly and remotely upgraded to allow data capture and bi-directional control with little effort,” said George Cora, CEO of Ardexa.
