ISA and Siemens form global partnership to improve awareness of the need for industrial cybersecurity.
The International Society of Automation (ISA) announced today that it has formed a global partnership with Siemens—a worldwide technology leader in electrification, automation and digitalization—to improve awareness of the need for industrial cybersecurity.
The partnership, forged in response to the changing industrial security landscape and growing cyber-threats to automation networks and systems, specifically focuses on broadening understanding and adoption of industrial automation security standards.
Both organizations will share expertise in protecting automation environments based on ISA/IEC 62443, the world’s only consensus-based series of industrial cybersecurity standards, and appropriate security measures through co-sponsored events, webinars and additional educational resources Together, ISA and Siemens intend to raise awareness and share best practices of industrial security with owner/operators of industrial equipment.
The first activity between Siemens and ISA will be two live webinar sessions, titled “Cybersecurity for Control Systems in Process Automation,” with Siemens Plant Security Services Product Solution & Security Officer (PSSO) Robert Thompson and ISA 99/IEC 62443 Committee Co-Chair Eric Cosman. Click here to register for the European session and here for the North American session.
"Cyber Security needs to be addressed by industrial companies as recent global ransomware attacks have demonstrated the possible impacts in the last weeks. Our customers need to adequately manage the associated cyber risk, arising from the vulnerabilities of IT technology combined with the increased connectedness in our digital age,” says Henning Rudolf, Global Head of Siemens Plant Security Services.
The ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI, www.isasecure.org) operates one of the first standardized assessment schemes for the ISA/IEC 62443 IACS cybersecurity standards, and this program has been heavily adopted by Siemens as a leading provider of automation equipment and industrial security services, as well as being a global manufacturing company.
Siemens Plant Security Services adhere to the ISA/IEC 62443 guidelines and are available for existing Siemens customers and third-party equipment, providing a multi-layer protection-level approach, asset inventory and tracking, patch and vulnerability management, network segmentation, industrial security management, incident handling and security consulting services. Siemens also provides a comprehensive Product Computer Emergency Response Team (ProductCERT) for Siemens solutions.
Siemens operates several “Cyber Security Operation Centers” (CSOC) for the production of industrial facilities, with joint locations in Lisbon, Munich and Milford (Ohio) in the USA. Siemens industrial security specialists based at these sites monitor industrial facilities all around the world for cyber threats, warn companies in the event of security incidents and coordinate proactive countermeasures. These protective measures are also part of Siemens extensive Plant Security Services.
(Image Credit: Siemens AG, Munich/Berlin; Sources: ISA, Siemens)