Patent ID: 8042147

Claim:
A method in a security appliance for securing a networked industrial device, the security appliance coupling the networked industrial device to a data network, the method comprising the steps of: monitoring, in the security appliance, data traffic originating from the industrial device to other devices accessible through the data network, to determine attributes associated with the industrial device; receiving, at the security appliance, encrypted management connection data for management of the security appliance, the encrypted management connection data originating from a management server connected to the data network, from packets addressed to the industrial device; sending, to the management server, a packet communicating the determined device attributes, said packet utilizing an address of the industrial device as the originating address for the packet; receiving, at the security appliance, encrypted configuration data from the management server connected to the data network, from packets addressed to the industrial device, wherein the configuration data provides a security profile selected by the management server based upon the communicated device attributes; managing packets, at the security appliance, between the industrial device and the other devices accessible through the data network based upon the configuration data provided by the security profile; and periodically sending, from the security appliance, an encrypted heartbeat message to the management server utilizing the address of the industrial device as the originating address for the packet.