UL Joins ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance as a Founding Member to Advance Industrial Cybersecurity
October 22, 2020
UL recently announced that it is joining the International Society of Automation (ISA) Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) as a founding member. UL brings more than 125 years of safety and 20 years of cybersecurity experience to help accelerate ISAGCA’s mission to advance state-of-the-art cybersecurity for industrial automation and control systems globally.
UL’s cybersecurity expertise includes a global network of security experts and advisers, industry-leading customer partners, specialized expertise in global security standards, frameworks and best practices, and independent third party experience in cybersecurity evaluation, testing and certification for industry 4.0. UL’s broad experience in industrial IoT (IIoT) cybersecurity brings value to the alliance’s primary goals of structuring cybersecurity in a globally consistent manner and promoting adoption of the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards.
UL joins the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance as a founding member, alongside new member Eaton, who has been leading efforts in the industry for unified global cybersecurity standards and third party assessment, which is critical for the safety and security of connected industrial automation products and control systems. As a founding member, UL will serve on the Advisory Board and help drive select committees and working groups to advance key alliance cybersecurity objectives, including increasing awareness and engagement across the industry, accelerating expansion and adoption of ISA/IEC 62443, and optimizing compliance and prevention initiatives.
Alliance activities supporting these objectives include government, regulatory and stakeholder education, facilitating the exchange of cybersecurity information, setting supply chain security baselines and harmonization of global cybersecurity certification schemes, among others.
“UL is a trusted safety science organization. They’re well-known for a long history of safety expertise in industrial automation and control systems, with increasing industry recognition for security,” said Andre Ristaino, managing director, ISAGCA. “We’re extremely pleased to have UL join the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance as a founding member. We look forward to their valuable contributions to alliance objectives and helping to lead global industry efforts for the ISA/IEC 62443 consensus-based standard.”
“As part of UL’s decades of cybersecurity experience and over 30 years of active IECEE participation, we are proud to join the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance as a founding member,” said Isabelle Noblanc, global vice president and general manager of UL’s Identity Management and Security division. “UL is a strong proponent of cybersecurity collaboration and compliance based on global industry standards and best practices, which is embodied by the ISAGCA and important family of IEC 62443 standards. As part of the alliance, we look forward to advancing and helping secure industry 4.0.”
“As a fellow new founding member of the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance, we are pleased to see UL also join the alliance,” said Michael Regelski, senior vice president, R&D for Intelligent Power Management Solutions and chief technology officer, Electrical Sector at Eaton. “Eaton is driving for unified global conformance assessment for cybersecurity in the industry, with partners like UL and others. As part of those efforts, we view independent third party verification, from companies like UL, as a crucial component that carries a lot of weight, that carries a lot of value and provides trust to customers in the industry going forward.”
In addition to industrial cybersecurity expertise, UL is a recognized leader in markets regulated for cybersecurity, including payments, automotive, government and healthcare. UL’s portfolio of OT and IoT security solutions include services for IEC 62443 and UL 2900 Series of Standards, FIPS, Common Criteria, Secure Elements, UL Supplier Cyber Trust Level, UL IoT Security Rating and UL IoT Security Starter Kit. Additional UL security solutions include mobile security, developing cybersecurity frameworks, risk and maturity assessments, security by design and cybersecurity strategy roadmaps that address securing the product’s lifecycle, cybersecurity in smart ecosystems and supply chain risk management.
ISA is the developer of the ANSI/ISA 62443 series of automation and control systems cybersecurity standards, which have been adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission as IEC 62443 and endorsed by the United Nations. The standards define requirements and procedures for implementing electronically secure automation and industrial control systems, security practices and assessing electronic security performance. The standards approach the cybersecurity challenge in a holistic way, bridging the gap between operations and information technology.
