Contained in IT, so the grid keeps running.
Critical infrastructure ransomware often starts in the IT environment, in email, file shares and business systems, rather than in the control room. Helm contains ransomware at the data layer in IT, so your teams stay in control of operations, essential services can keep flowing, and you have the record regulators expect.
Utilities run the grid, pipelines and treatment plants on operational technology, while billing, scheduling, maintenance and customer service run on IT. Ransomware in one quickly raises questions about the other. In Sophos’s 2024 survey of energy, oil and gas, and utilities organisations hit by ransomware, median recovery costs reached $3 million, and 55% needed more than a month to recover.
The questions are what cost Colonial Pipeline in 2021. Ransomware reached its IT network, and the company halted pipeline operations as a precaution, interrupting a line that carries 45% of the US East Coast’s fuel. When no one can see how far an attack has spread, shutting down can feel like the only option.
With the attack contained in IT within seconds, and a clear view of which accounts, devices and files were affected, your operations team has the facts to judge whether the plant can keep running. That is where Helm comes in.
55%
of energy and utilities organisations hit by ransomware needed more than a month to recover.
Under NIS2, energy and drinking water are sectors of high criticality. A significant incident needs an early warning within 24 hours, a notification within 72 hours and a final report within a month. Germany’s KRITIS rules and the UK’s NIS Regulations set similar expectations for operators.
In North America, NERC CIP-015 will require internal network security monitoring for high-impact bulk electric systems and medium-impact systems with external routable connectivity, with compliance phased in from 2028, so regulators expect operators to be able to see what is moving inside their networks.
Helm supports the evidence. Every detection and containment step is recorded with a timestamp and mapped to frameworks such as NIS2 and NIST CSF, ready for your reports and your auditors.
Helm protects the file servers and shares in your IT environment, with nothing installed on the control systems that run the grid, pipelines or plant, such as SCADA, and nothing scanning them.
When encryption starts, Helm detects it in under a second and responds on fixed, readable rules your team sets, with no AI involved. It isolates the compromised accounts and devices in IT, so your operations team can see what has been contained and keep running the plant with confidence.
Keep running the plant with confidence.
Recovery is not done until it is verified clean Helm verifies that systems are clean before they come back, so billing, scheduling and maintenance return without bringing the attack back with them.
Every step is logged with a timestamp, giving you the facts for the 24-hour early warning, the 72-hour notification and the final report.
Ransomware will keep targeting utilities and the services people rely on. With Helm, attacks in IT are contained in seconds, operations stay in your team’s hands, and systems come back only once they are verified clean.
Manufacturers face a similar line between IT and OT. To see what this looks like for your utility, talk to us.
