IEC 62443
What is IEC 62443?
The ISA/IEC 62443 standards were purpose-built to address security issues unique to industrial automation and control systems (IACS) and operational technology (OT). As such, they can be an extremely valuable resource for organizations looking to strengthen defenses and corral risk in specialized industrial systems.
Unlike the more general NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) or ISO 2700x guidelines, ISA/IEC 62443 (IEC 62443 for short) provides a series of requirements and methods to manage security challenges in IACS and industrial environments. Such challenges include:
- The relative criticality of data confidentiality in facilities operations or functions.
- Potential dangers to personnel, the environment, and society in the event of cyber-physical failures.
- The increased need for compensating controls to protect legacy IACS/OT systems.
- The relative difficulty of applying common IT security techniques without severe systems modifications.
- Prospects for financial loss due to an incident-related drop in productivity.
- Unique approaches to ensuring systems reliability and integrity in industrial environments.
Protect OT Systems with IEC 62443
The ISA/IEC 62443 collection of standards is laser-focused on industrial controls. Read the Ultimate Guide to Protecting OT Systems with IEC 62443 to make the most of them.
This guide will cover:
- Zones, conduits and security levels
- Guiding risk assessment
- Use cases for leveraging IEC 62443
- Limitations
- Getting started
- and more!
Build an ICS Cyber Security Program with IEC 62443
This article aims to help asset owners, integrators and customers understand how to begin a cybersecurity program to improve overall maturity against the elements of the IEC 62443 standard.
In the IT cybersecurity world, there is a plethora of frameworks and education. But in OT cybersecurity, it is paralyzing to understand and properly implement meaningful security. The good news is that it can be done safely in a way that considers both enterprise/IT and OT/ICS audiences via a phased and pragmatic approach.