From Windows XP to Today: All Systems Securely Managed

NAFTA Speicher GmbH & Co. KG, headquartered in Schechen, operates three underground gas storage facilities in Bavaria with a total working gas capacity of approximately 1.8 billion cubic meters.

The company is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and expansion of its facilities, as well as the marketing of storage capacities. The reliable performance of its OT systems is essential: they monitor and control processes related to gas injection and withdrawal, security of supply, as well as backup and patch management.

As part of the international NAFTA Group and a member of the EPH Group, NAFTA Speicher benefits from more than 45 years of experience in the gas storage business. In addition to Germany, NAFTA operates further storage facilities in Central Europe and serves as technical operator for third-party storage capacities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Three questions to …

Wolfgang Rechenauer

Engineer EMSR
NAFTA Speicher GmbH & Co. KG

What challenges did you face before the implementation of ondeso?

Our three gas storage facilities were built in the 1980s, at a time when only a limited number of IT and OT systems were in place. As technology evolved, more and more systems were added. Today, we operate a wide range of technologies from completely different decades.

We were therefore looking for a solution that could cover four key use cases:

– A fast and comprehensive overview of hardware and software within the OT environment
– Reliable and straightforward patching of all systems, including legacy systems down to Windows XP
– Backup and restore in the event of a defect or failure
– Preventing unauthorized import or export of data via external storage media

In addition, ISO 27001 audits provided external recommendations addressing these exact areas.

Another challenge was ensuring that only patches approved by the manufacturer of our control systems were installed in order to avoid system failures. As a gas storage operator, we must guarantee 24/7/365 availability.

How has working in your production environment changed since then?

Thanks to the highly detailed overview of our OT environment, we can now quickly determine whether we are affected when new software vulnerabilities become known. If so, the affected clients can be precisely identified and the rollout of bug fixes can begin immediately. A major advantage is the connection of all three sites to one central system, allowing us to monitor the entire OT landscape from a single point.

We also save a significant amount of time on backups. Before ondeso, our colleagues had to visit every OT computer individually and perform manual backups using dedicated software and external storage media. Today, backups can be initiated with just a few clicks and stored centrally.

The structured patch management significantly increases the security of our OT. We can be confident that all known and fixed Windows vulnerabilities have been closed.

With ondeso DC, we now also have full control over the USB interfaces within our OT environment and the ability to scan and monitor external removable media. The introduction of unwanted files or the extraction of sensitive data is therefore virtually impossible.

Why did you decide to use a product from ondeso?

ondeso was the only provider able to cover all our use cases at a fair price. The effort and associated costs required to expand our infrastructure were manageable.

From the initial request and planning phase to the fully installed system — including solutions tailored to our specific needs — ondeso impressed us across the board. You can clearly see the exceptionally high level of motivation among the employees. Everyone fully stands behind the company and its product.

The functionalities and capabilities promised during the product presentation are fully available and usable. In addition, the software offers many further features that we had not originally planned for but which have proven highly beneficial in practical use.

Feel free to contact us now and tell us about your challenges. Together we will develop customised solutions for your OT systems so that you can concentrate on the essential tasks again.