Securing network devices with IEC 62443-4-2 standard

Vance Chen / Product Manager / Moxa

As the Industrial IoT (IIoT) continues to expand, more and more devices are being connected to networks. This trend is seeing networks transitioning from closed networks to enterprise IT networks that are accessible over the public Internet. While this trend is enhancing operational efficiency, it is unfortunately causing asset owners to become increasingly concerned about the dangers posed by cybersecurity threats.

The asset owners’ concerns are justified. A recent report released by the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) calculated that investigators responded to 295 incidents in 2015 in the U.S., compared to 245 the previous year regarding cyber attacks on infrastructure. It is even more concerning for the critical manufacturing sector, which saw the largest increase proportionally from 27% of the overall total in 2014 to 33% in 2015. It is therefore unsurprising that asset owners are increasingly requiring cybersecurity solutions to allow them to build secure systems for industrial applications.

How cybersecurity standards evolved

In 2002, the International Society for Automation (ISA) produced the ISA-99 document to advise businesses operating in the automation industries how to protect against cybersecurity threats. Fifteen years ago, cybersecurity wasn’t the hot topic it is today. The ISA documents have been aligned with those more frequently used by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as the concerns around cybersecurity have grown since the conception of the ISA standards. Currently, the IEC 62443 standard constitutes a series of standards, reports, and other relevant documentation that define procedures for implementing electronically secure Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS). If the guidelines within the IEC 62443 standard are followed, it significantly reduces the chances of a cyber attack affecting the network.

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