TXOne Networks

TXOne Networks builds security products for one kind of environment, which is operational technology. The company was formed as a joint venture between Trend Micro and Moxa, announced in November 2018, and that pairing put a large IT security vendor together with an industrial networking manufacturer. It is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. The range is organized in families. Edge covers network defense such as intrusion prevention and industrial firewalls, Stellar covers endpoint protection for control system computers, and Element covers security inspection of machines and removable media. What ties them together is an assumption most IT security tools do not make: the plant cannot stop, cannot always be patched, and often cannot have new software installed on it.

We carry the two Element products, because they solve a problem small OT teams hit early. Antivirus needs to be installed, and on a plant floor that is often not allowed. The HMI may be validated, the vendor may forbid changes, or the operating system may be too old to support an agent. Portable Inspector Pro is a USB device that runs its malware scan from the stick, without installing software on the target or rebooting it, so running processes stay up. Safe Port deals with the other common route in. It is a scanning station for removable media, placed where contractors and vendors arrive, so a USB drive is checked before it goes anywhere near a control system. Between them they cover machines you cannot touch and media you did not create.

Neither product needs a network change or a maintenance outage to start using, which is why they suit a team of one or two. A common pattern is to scan every contractor laptop and vendor drive on arrival, and to run Portable Inspector across air-gapped machines during scheduled rounds so each scan leaves a record. Both products are listed with a price and ship direct from TXOne with tracking sent to you. If you are not sure whether you need the handheld scanner, the scanning station or both, ask one of our OT cyber experts. Tell us how many machines you have, how media reaches them today and who brings it in, and we will point you to the right setup.