SCADAvantage™ and Twilio
Using SCADAvantage™ for callouts but want to get rid of the phone line? Or wish you could acknowledge alarms using SMS?
QCSI has developed a module for SCADAvantage™ which allows our customers to stop using the Dialogic hardware that requires phone lines for voice calls and mail servers/relays for E-mail callouts. The module allows the customer to use the Twilio Cloud Service which allows for secure 2-way acknowledgement of callouts both by Voice AND SMS messages.
What are the main benefits?
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Allow you to get rid of expensive data center phone lines
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Remove the need for physical servers with old and unsupported Dialogic cards
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Enhanced functionality allowing operators to acknowledge callouts/alarms by responding to SMS messages on their smart device
How does the VTScada Twilio solution work?
When an alarm occurs it triggers a HTTP or HTTPS call to Twilio's servers. Twilio then initiates a series of callbacks using HTTP or HTTPS to the SCADA server, logging in to the Twilio application with a previously shared username and password.
Will this solution still allow me to use Twilio but keep my SCADA server off the Internet?
All requests originating from Twilio are cryptographically signed using your secret Twilio Authtoken. This signature can be authenticated to ensure that any requests are indeed from Twilio.
Quintessential has developed a Linux based proxy solution that takes advantage of this digital signature. The proxy will accept incoming Twilio requests, validate the Twilio signature, and only then pass on the request to your SCADA system.
In combination with a proper DMZ the risk to your SCADA system can be dramatically reduced.
Only a very limited set of cryptographically signed and validated Twilio requests are passed on to the SCADA server.
For more information email sales@quintessentialcomputing.com