With a common goal of securing high criticality OT systems, the goal of the new certification scheme is to increase confidence in the security of commercial components.
International Society of Automation (ISA), which is the parent organization for ISASecure, developed a set of security levels (SL) with specific cybersecurity requirements for OT components in the international OT cybersecurity standard ISA 62443-4-2.
Additionally, six new technical security requirements ended up developed and published by NSA’s Operational Technology Assurance Partnership (OTAP) Program. Moreover, the requirements appeared in the NSA/CSS Cybersecurity Technical Report entitled “Operational Technology Assurance Partnership: Smart Controller Security within National Security Systems.”
In response to the need, ISASecure is developing a separate High Criticality Component Security Assurance (HCSA) certification scheme. Furthermore, it will end up derived from the established Component Security Assurance certification scheme (CSA).
Upon completion and the OTAP program office’s acceptance of the ISASecure HCSA scheme, NSA will use the scheme as an approved certification mechanism in the evaluation process of adding OT OEM components to the NSS OT Product Compliant List (PCL).
“This is a major achievement in the history of ISASecure,” said Dr. Mark P. DeAngelo, program manager of ISASecure. “The NSA recognizes the importance of the ISA 62443 standard and the ISASecure program, which independently evaluates a product’s conformity to the ISA 62443 standard.”
An ISASecure HCSA certificate provides a product manufacturer with essential evidence in consideration of that product’s inclusion on the NSA’s NSS OT PCL.
For more information on the program, send an email to DeAngelo.
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