Safeguarding Smart Mobility Infrastructure with PacketViper OT360 Cyber-Physical and Compute Edge

The Challenge: Protecting Connected Transportation Systems

Transportation networks are rapidly evolving-from traditional traffic lights to fully connected Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that support autonomous vehicles, smart sensors, and statewide data integration. However, this progress comes with escalating cyber-physical risks:

• Unsecured Cabinets & Controllers: Many roadside units and signal cabinets lack built-in cybersecurity, exposing open network ports, default passwords, and unmonitored access points. In one of the largest traffic control software solutions, the vendor’s security focus remains centered on their application software rather than on securing the connection to the main network-leaving a critical gap at the infrastructure edge.

• Flat, Legacy Networks: Even partially segmented networks are not necessarily protected; when segmentation is incomplete or misconfigured, attackers can still move laterally once they compromise a single intersection or device, spreading across the network with ease.

• Rapid Compromise Demonstrated: In a recent traffic-control penetration test, an attacker could connect to the traffic control network and gain access within minutes with little to no visibility from operators, underscoring how quickly a gap at the edge can become a city?wide problem.

• Growing Threats: Nation-state and ransomware groups are increasingly targeting transportation infrastructure as a soft entry point capable of causing citywide gridlock or disrupting emergency response. With hundreds of interconnected intersections and data-driven systems statewide, DOT requires proactive, real-time protection at every traffic edge-not after-the-fact alerts.

The Solution: PacketViper OT360 and OTRemote Cyber?Physical Security with Compute Edge

PacketViper’s cyber?physical capabilities combine network security with environmental awareness, providing motion detection, physical tamper alerts, and correlation of physical access events with network anomalies. This unified defense enables the DOT to detect intrusions that might otherwise go unnoticed-such as unauthorized cabinet access followed by abnormal command activity-and respond automatically in real time.

PacketViper OT360 Compute Edge extends Preemptive Defense and Active Deception directly into the DOT’s field infrastructure-securing every cabinet, controller, and remote endpoint with autonomous cyber-physical protection.

Key Capabilities for DOT

• Motion Detection & Tamper Alerts in the Cabinet: Each unit detects and records physical access attempts, correlating them with network anomalies for unified incident response.

• Inline, Real-Time Network Containment: Instantly detects and blocks unauthorized connections or commands at wire speed, preventing disruption before it occurs.

• Cyber-Physical Correlation: Monitors both digital and physical anomalies-such as door openings or unauthorized activity-to catch hybrid attacks in progress.

• Preemptive Automated Moving Target Defense (AMTD): Constantly shifts communication pathways, making networks unpredictable to attackers and resistant to persistent threats.

• Distributed Edge Architecture: Each Remote Security Unit (RSU) operates autonomously inside roadside cabinets, enforcing Zero Trust at the intersection level-even without central connectivity.

• Compute Edge Platform: Hosts approved local applications for analytics, monitoring, or AI signal optimization without needing separate hardened servers.

Value to DOT and Citizens

Why Now

States in the nation are introducing Smart Mobility and Autonomous Corridor initiatives. PacketViper will protect these advancements using its OT360 Cyber?Physical and Compute Edge capabilities, ensuring they are secure by design and empowering DOT to protect the digital roadways as effectively as the physical highways and byways.