Wired and wireless connection between two pc's

[kristoffero]

Hello,
So here is the problem im facing.
At work we have 2 computers inside our control room. One of them is used for high pressure testing and controlling of pumps and so on. Therefore this computer is not allowed to or able to connect to the internet for security reasons.
The other pc we have is connected to the company intranet and the internet via cable and we use that for finding procedures, drawings, updating procedures and so on.
Until now we have used a flash drive to transfer the pressure test charts from the non connected pc to the other one so that we can upload them to the customer.

What im currently looking at is a way to get these two pc's to "talk together" in any way so that we can save the charts from the non connected pc to a specific folder that we can access from the normal pc that has internet, therefore cutting out the need for the usb flash drive.

I have been looking at a solution with an external harddrive that has wifi. using a cabled usb connection to the pc that has internet, and connecting the other to the harddrives wifi using a small usb wifi dongle.
The problem is that with every single wifi enabled external harddrive i have found it says that it will disable the wifi function when connected via usb. Is there any way to get around this limitation?

Or if anyone here with experience in this kind of things could give me a better solution that would be very nice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Traditore]

What is the security concern? Because if you transfer files over usbflashdrive it's a security issue. Even even you buy a 500$ NAS/DAS that works over USB+LAN you'll have the same security issue of the media that transfers files and all sorts of malware get on it from your computers connected to internet.

 

[bill001g]

The method you have is the most secure but you must control the USB flash drive carefully. Malware can get inserted into a flash drive. This is the rumored method that was used to destroy the centrifuges in iran nuclear program.

The best method if you really want them networked is to use a small firewall. You would put a rule in that protected pc could only talk to 1 particular file server/nas. You would then limit on that file server so the protected pc could only write to files but not read any. No other traffic would be allowed between the protected pc and network.

Not as good as a air gap system like your have but would be the second best.

 

[kristoffero]

What is the security concern? Because if you transfer files over usbflashdrive it's a security issue. Even even you buy a 500$ NAS/DAS that works over USB+LAN you'll have the same security issue of the media that transfers files and all sorts of malware get on it from your computers connected to internet.

The security concern is that if someone from the outside could access the system that controls the high pressure pumps and filling/draining of the test pool and oxygen sensors it could potentially cause damage to equipment, serious injury and/or death to the people working there. Including control and footage of the security cameras in the workshop that we only use for monitoring testing.

It may sound paranoid but its company policy that systems like these do not connect to the internet or anything that allows external control.

 

[Traditore]

What is the security concern? Because if you transfer files over usbflashdrive it's a security issue. Even even you buy a 500$ NAS/DAS that works over USB+LAN you'll have the same security issue of the media that transfers files and all sorts of malware get on it from your computers connected to internet.

The security concern is that if someone from the outside could access the system that controls the high pressure pumps and filling/draining of the test pool and oxygen sensors it could potentially cause damage to equipment, serious injury and/or death to the people working there. Including control and footage of the security cameras in the workshop that we only use for monitoring testing.

It may sound paranoid but its company policy that systems like these do not connect to the internet or anything that allows external control.

Possible solution 1: Connect this PC to LAN, turn off remote control, remove the DNS Server and Default Gateway addresses from IPv4 configuration, that will disable the Internet access and leave your local file/print sharing working.

Possible solution 2: create 2 VLANs, 2 separate secured networks, one network will be your only PC, all other PCs in separate network

Possible solution 3: buy a NAS/DAS, connect it wia USB to your PC and make it visible on LAN for every1 else

All you need is a smart configuration of a network and not paranoid thinking "just turn network off"

 

[jsmithepa]

Ya, careful with the flash, ever heard of the Stuxnet?

Whatever link up u device, as long as u can guarantee one-way traffic, as per your stated, u should be OK.