The International Society of Automation (ISA) and the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) are proud to announce that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has officially designated the IEC/ISA 62443 series of standards as “horizontal,” meaning that they are proven to be applicable to a wide range of different industries.

According to the IEC decision, “The IEC Technical Committee 65 (TC 65) publishes IEC 62443 for operational technology found in industrial and critical infrastructure, including but not restricted to power utilities, water management systems, healthcare, and transport systems. These horizontal standards, also known as base standards, are technology independent. They can be applied across many technical areas.”

The ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards is the world’s only consensus-based cybersecurity standard for automation and control system applications. These standards codify hundreds of years of operational technology and IoT cybersecurity subject matter expertise. Using the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards as a foundation, companies can focus on adopting security as part of the operations lifecycle, ensuring compliance with various aspects of the standards across their supply chains, and including cybersecurity in operational risk-management profiles.

The designation of the ISA/IEC 62443 series as a horizontal standard will have many benefits to stakeholders:

· Asset owners who have a presence in or exposure to more than one sector will be able to align their cybersecurity programs, leveraging ISA/IEC 62443 as the one single source for the fundamental principles and requirements of automation cybersecurity

· Automation system suppliers will be able to certify their products for a broader range of applications, using a common set of conformance specifications based on 62443

· IEC TC 65 WG 10 and the ISA99 committee will be able to focus their efforts on collaboration and advancement of the series of standards, especially around current demands in areas such as IIoT, sensor-level security, and supply chain risks

· The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) and its 50+ member companies will partner with asset owners and suppliers to build relevant, applications-focused materials to enable companies in different sectors around the world to adopt and implement the series of standards at scale