The IEC-62443 cybersecurity standards are multi-industry standards listing cybersecurity protection methods and techniques. These documents are the result of the IEC standards creation process where ANSI/ISA-62443 proposals and other inputs are submitted to country committees where review is done and comments regarding changes are submitted. The comments are reviewed by various IEC 62443 committees where comments are discussed and changes are made as agreed upon. Many members of the IEC committees are the same persons from the ISA S99 committees. To date, the fundamental concepts from the original ANSI/ISA 62443 documents have been utilized.
IEC 62443 Certification Programs
IEC 62443 certification schemes have also been established by several global Certification Bodies. Each has defined their own scheme based upon the referenced standards and procedures which describes their test methods, surveillance audit policy, public documentation policies, and other specific aspects of their program. Cybersecurity certification programs for IEC 62443 standards are being offered globally by several recognized CBs including exida, SGS-TÜV Saar, TÜV Nord, TÜV Rheinland, TÜV Sud, UL and CertX. In the automation system market space most cybersecurity certifications have been done by exida.
Global Accreditation and Recognition
A global infrastructure has been established to ensure consistent evaluation per these standards. Impartial third party organizations called Certification Bodies (CB) are accredited to operate ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17025. Certification Bodies are accredited to perform the auditing, assessment, and testing work by an Accreditation Body (AB). There is often one national AB in each country. These ABs operate per the requirements of ISO/IEC 17011, a standard that contains requirements for the competence, consistency, and impartiality of accreditation bodies when accrediting conformity assessment bodies. ABs are members of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) for work in management systems, products, services, and personnel accreditation or the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) for laboratory accreditation. A Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) between ABs will ensure global recognition of accredited CBs…