IronClad Encryption Corporation announced it has partnered with Black Pearl Engineering Management Inc. to co-develop ultra-secure products based on IronClad’s patented ultra-secure cybersecurity algorithms and methodologies. The joint venture will operate under the name "Black ICE" and will initially focus on network gateway products. The Black ICE Programmable Logic Control (PLC) /Network Gateway product line specifically targets the Industrial Control System security market. The initial product offerings will be a powerful, ultra-secure product line for the industrial automation and energy sectors. This new product line is an intelligent management system that will integrate IronClad’s patented ultra-secure algorithms and methodologies in a package that can be easily and seamlessly integrated into an existing infrastructure. Supporting the need for the secured products Black ICE will deliver to the market is the latest ICS-CERT Annual Assessment Report for Fiscal Year 2016 that states, “Cyber incidents at home and abroad in Fiscal Year 2016 highlighted the continued and significant risks associated with cyberattacks on industrial control systems (ICS).” The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is tasked with reducing risks within and across all critical infrastructure sectors and coordinating efforts among governmental agencies and international control systems owners, operators, and vendors. The Black ICE PLC /Network Gateway product will provide an ultra-secure solution for existing automation environments that is functionally compatible with and easily integrated into various industry ICS environments. Gateway units will be installed at critical entry access points in PLC systems to mitigate cybersecurity threats to industrial and energy customers' digital infrastructure and automation and control systems. The Black ICE PLC /Network Gateway also reduces the risk of malicious and inadvertent insider threats, including unauthorized access by untrained technicians. With the Black ICE PLC /Network Gateway, unauthorized parties cannot gain access to critical infrastructure components and interfere with their operation, thus lowering overall system, network and physical infrastructure risk significantly. The new Black ICE PLC /Network Gateway product line will make it easy to lock down nearly all remote PLC control systems, including individual control nodes, without modifications to legacy software.