Case Study: Plum Island Animal Disease Center strengthens building system cybersecurity with Red Balloon Security's Symbiote Embedded Defense

Plum Island Animal Disease Center strengthens BMS security in a 12-month Red Balloon Security deployment

The Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), a Biosafety Level 3 facility operated by the Department of Homeland Security, faced the challenge of developing new technology to bolster the cybersecurity defenses of its complex building automation and biocontainment systems. To address this, PIADC partnered with Red Balloon Security to deploy its Symbiote technology to protect these critical embedded devices.

Red Balloon Security implemented its Symbiote Embedded Defense, which was injected directly into the firmware of the building management system devices to constantly check code integrity and block unauthorized commands. The solution successfully integrated alerts with the existing human-machine interface system across multiple devices, strengthening the facility's cybersecurity at the device level and providing a critical tool to ensure operational integrity.

Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC)