Cybersecurity Preparedness for Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Operations

ISASecure has developed a 3-day training class for product developers and assessors (IC47) to teach them how to develop secure products conformant to ISA/IEC 62443-4-1, 4-2, 3-3. “ISASecure is also developing a new program to certify OT systems to ISA/IEC 62443 deployed at operating sites like PETRONAS, along with a 3-day assessor training class,” Ristaino said. Other OT cybersecurity work is being done by ISA in: Standards development. The ISA99 Standards committee writes and publishes the ISA/IEC 62443 standards on which all ISA OT cybersecurity activities are based. The work of this group of ISA volunteers “codifies what amounts to thousands of years of combined experience in OT cybersecurity,” said Ristaino.

Workforce development. ISA educates more than 3,000 students per year on automation and control cybersecurity topics through its online and in-person Training courses and annual events. ISA’s inaugural OT Cybersecurity Summit was held in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2023 and the 2024 summit will be held in London June 18-19.

Credentials. ISA’s Cybersecurity Certificate programs provide credentials to OT cybersecurity professionals. “ISA offers the most comprehensive set of industrial cybersecurity certificate programming and aligned training courses in the world,” said Ristaino. The programs are designed to deliver in-depth, OT-specific knowledge through a series of training courses designed to increase the cybersecurity maturity of individuals and entire organizations. It’s another step in the journey toward a culture of cybersecurity.

Advocacy. The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) advocates for adoption of ISA/IEC 62443 by suppliers, asset owners, integrators, and public policy makers, and develops work products to accelerate adoption. The ISAGCA blog regularly provides information on risk assessment, compliance, education, and more.

Incident response. The ICS4ICS, or Incident Command System for Industrial Control Systems, is an ISAGCA effort that helps operating sites respond to and recover from attacks. It provides workforce development and credentialling for “incident commanders”—the people who must respond to industrial control system breaches and other cyberattacks. For response structure, roles, and interoperability, ISAGCA joined forces with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and cybersecurity response teams from more than 50 participating companies to adapt the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Incident Command System. This system is used daily by first responders worldwide in emergency situations like fires, industrial accidents, extreme weather events, and other high-impact situations.