The modern digital era is increasingly reliant on automation. Industries can save time and work using it, but hazards can arise if proper security requirements aren’t followed. Thus, it is necessary to update industrial standards for industries and important infrastructure organizations to maintain the security of their critical operational technologies and ICS environment.
Several standards can give you the proper direction; however, the ISA/IEC 62443 Industrial Cybersecurity Standards is one of them. Automation and control systems may easily maintain risk-free operations by deploying the guidelines from these standards. The ISA/IEC 62443 Industrial Cybersecurity Standards, a joint effort by ISA and IEC, are approved as a standard digital security framework in Europe and acknowledged by the UN.
In this blog, we will provide a brief overview of this compliance framework, including what it is, what it comprises, its different components, how it provides security for the product development lifecycle, and how it integrates with other security standards like NIST CSF.
What is ISA/IEC 62443 Standard?
ISA/IEC 62443 Industrial Cybersecurity Standards is a collection of cybersecurity guidelines designed especially for operational technology (OT) and industrial automation and control systems (IACS). It offers specific rules and standards for addressing the security concerns identified in industrial environments, in contrast to more general frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) or ISO 2700x principles.
Before the launch of this set of compliance rules, the entirety of the IT industry ecosystem was covered by cybersecurity procedures only. As a result, automation was only briefly discussed. This gap was bridged with the introduction of ISA/IEC 62443, which completely emphasized automation, operational technology, and industrial 4.0.
ISA/IEC addresses a wide range of automation’s digital security issues, including
- Preserving the privacy of data in relevant processes and operations;
- Dealing with a few of the unseen yet harmful effects of cyberattacks on people, the IT ecosystem as a whole, and society;
- Implementing compensatory measures to safeguard antiquated OT and IACS systems;
- Estimating the monetary damages brought about by a risk or vulnerability; and,
- Offering a focused strategy to guarantee the dependability and integrity of the industrial systems.
These extra features make these standards more dependable and applicable to industrial systems. Owing to this, these standards always include a thorough summary of the best security practices that can assist you in building a trustworthy cybersecurity management system that can carry out an in-depth risk assessment.
IEC 62443 can, thus, be used to determine a company’s IACS security maturity level if it is adopted carefully. It can also assist you in choosing the standards for choosing security products, programs, and service providers.
So, what do the ISA/IEC 62443 standards comprise? We will discuss that in the next section.
Breakdown of the ISA/IEC 62443 Standards
The ISA/IEC 62443 standards can essentially be broken down into four sections:
General: Includes definitions, vocabulary, concepts, and use case examples.
Part 1 covers topics that run across the entire series:
1-1: Concepts, models, and terminology
Policies and Protocols: Contains instructions for implementation, patching protocols, and program requirements.
Part 2 covers the techniques and procedures related to IACS security:
2-1: Implementing a security program for IACS
2-2: Managing patches within the IACS framework
2-3: Requirements for security programs for IACS service providers
System: Covers recommended technologies, security requirement levels, and assessment methodologies.
Part 3 covers system-level needs.
3-1: IACS security technologies
3-2: System design security risk assessment
3-3: Security levels and criteria for systems
Components: Concentrates on the technical specifications for system components and the product lifecycle.
Part 4 covers comprehensive specifications for IACS products.
4-1: Requirements for a secure product development lifecycle
4-2: IACS component technical security requirements
The best part about the ISA/IEC standards is that the technical criteria for the framework have been created based on security levels. Different steps must be performed at each security level to safeguard the industrial control systems. Thus, familiarizing yourself with the security level definition, as stated in IEC-62443, is essential. We will discuss this in the next section, along with what “zones” and “conduits” mean in the context of these compliance standards.
What are the Security Levels, Zones, and Conduits Within the ISA/IEC 62443 Standards?
In the extensive documents highlighting the ISA/IEC 62443 standards guidelines, security levels are called SL for the convenience of identification. Given below is an explanation of the five security levels of these standards.
- SL0: This is known as novice-level security since only a few specific security procedures are required at this level.
- SL1: This is the primary level of security and requires sufficient protection to prevent unintentional tool and data exploitation.
- SL2: As a mid-level security tier, SL2 requests safeguards against deliberate and premeditated abuse of data, systems, and resources.
- SL3: This higher security level emphasizes the need for strong security controls to prevent deliberate abuse. In general, it pertains to moderate resources and IACS-specific expertise.
- SL4: This is the most advanced security level. The standard directs the use of the most creative strategies at this level to mitigate the risks posed by highly motivated and purposeful attacks.
These security levels can all be used to group the tools by any vendor or supplier of IACS solutions. Zones and conduits are additional System Under Consideration (SuC) categories.
Now, what are “zones” and “conduits”?
Zones are used to classify logical and physical assets requiring the same level of protection. Every SuC listed within a single zone will have a variety of threats and the same security needs. SuCs are often classified according to criteria such as criticalities and repercussions.
On the other hand, conduits are also a grouping concept; however, unlike zones, assets are classified here according to communication exclusivity. It is simple to comprehend how tunnels communicate within zones with the help of conduits.
Now that you understand what ISA/IEC 62443 is and what it consists of let’s delve into how these standards secure the product development lifecycle.
Securing the Product Development Lifecycle Using ISA/IEC 62443
When a company develops software, secure product development lifecycle security, or SDLC, is an important consideration. The ISA/IEC 62443’s comprehensive recommendations and guidelines are very beneficial for implementing the SDLC in the IACS/ICS/OT ecosystem. It does an excellent job of upholding a strong digital security posture throughout the application development process, even though its scope is less extensive than that of NIST.
The most relevant portion to describe the fundamental Foundational Requirements or FRs, for SDLC, is IEC 62443-3-3. It describes keeping a stable security posture across the SDLC by utilizing user access, authentication, encryption, audit logs, and roles and responsibility enforcement.
You can refer to IEC 62443-4-2 for more help. It assists developers with additional sub-requirements and functions similarly to a CSMS. These specifications are divided into seven FR categories. It explains that following targeted meetings and developing prerequisites are essential to achieving SLT in product development.
Secure product development goes beyond following the bare minimum. Product providers need to use a multifaceted development lifecycle to ensure security during the product development process. IEC-62443 offers workable suggestions for preserving safe processing during important phases of development, such as designing, developing, verifying, and so forth. It goes further and includes bug-fixing and updating phases.
Before implementing ISA/IEC 62443 and other security standards, OEM and IASC manufacturers would incur significant costs by developing under an insecure development environment. As more focus was placed on identifying the underlying source of the problem, it was discovered that the majority of threats and dangers to OT and ICT equipment are attributable to bad engineering, inadequate testing, and inadequate maintenance.
The introduction of the ISA/IEC 62443 standards provided a comprehensive overview of the security of the product development lifecycle. It offers developers advice on how to ensure the security of design, development, and delivery. They could be easily integrated into current security procedures and SDLC activities.
Lastly, how ISA/IEC 62443 integrates with other compliance standards like the NIST CSF.
How Does ISA/IEC 62443 Integrate with Other Compliance Standards?
Despite being robust enough to safeguard automation and control systems, ISA/IEC 62443 is frequently combined with additional frameworks or standards to produce even more potent outcomes.
For example, it complements ISO 27001 nicely to strengthen the OT/IACS/ICS security programs or just the CSMS. CAMS is a cybersecurity management system that handles risk analysis, CSMS enhancement, and risk mitigation tasks.
You can comprehend many risk analysis need areas by reading an excerpt from IEC 62443-4-2 CSMS standards.
ISA/IEC 62443 also shares comparable foundational security functions with NIST CSF, complementing it. The significant distinction is that while NIST CSF discusses enhancing an organization’s OT system, IEC 62443 focuses on ICS-related operations.
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