Your industrial network is not a commodity: it is strategic to your success

Over the past 20 years, I’ve enjoyed the journey I’ve taken with industrial customers as partners, helping them modernize and secure their infrastructures. As technology enters the age of AI and customers ready themselves for advanced technology, I feel energized by the opportunity to help them meet the challenges they’re facing as they look to digitize and protect their networks at scale.
Our customers feel an urgency to ensure their networks are securely maintained, and I frequently hear from them that it is their top concern. Cisco is committed to securing customers’ operations, which is why I am pleased to announce that our complete Industrial Ethernet portfolio of DIN rail, rackmount, and IP67-rated switches is now both IEC 62443-4-1 and 4-2 certified.

This is good news for customers, because it means our IE portfolio meets a strict series of internationally recognized standards that specifically address the cybersecurity challenges faced by Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS). This is critical for industries like manufacturing, energy, and transportation. Part 4-1 of the IEC 62443 standard outlines specific requirements for the secure development of products that make up an IACS. This means that companies who develop the equipment must demonstrate how they meet stringent secure-by-design requirements. Part 4-2 specifies the security capabilities required for a piece of equipment to be integrated into an industrial network.

As a manufacturer, the industrial network you invest in will shape your ability to compete and succeed in today’s industrial landscape, so if you are connecting your multi-million-dollar production machines without much consideration for networking equipment, you may be disappointed when your network suffers a security breach and lets you down – and you experience a major disruption in production.

The choice of industrial networking equipment is strategic

Driving long-term efficiency and productivity requires that you consider the ongoing impact of the industrial switches, routers, and access points on your operations and how they will communicate between machines and control systems. Your needs will evolve, so selecting scalable, flexible components will give you room for future growth and easy integration into your network. And given how vulnerable industrial operations are becoming to cyberattacks, choosing equipment with robust security features that comply with strict cybersecurity regulations (such as the NIS2 Directive across Europe) is integral to protecting sensitive data and critical infrastructure. But how can you assess whether the equipment you’re deploying is secure enough to safeguard your operations and compliant with regulations?

ISA/IEC 62443 provides a rubric for assessing equipment security

The ISA/IEC 62443 industrial cybersecurity standard defines requirements that industrial components must meet to be considered secure. Because this standard is a community effort driven by the International Society of Automation (ISA) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), it is recognized globally as a blueprint for securing industrial infrastructures.

Cisco and ISA/IEC 62443-4 compliance

At Cisco, our networking products follow the strict Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle (CSDL) process, which enforces a secure-by-design philosophy in all stages from product planning, operating, monitoring, to end-of-life. The CSDL process is certified to comply with ISA/IEC 62443-4-1 requirements, which means that all Cisco products are 4-1 compliant. This underscores our commitment to helping customers build secure, protected industrial networks.

When Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches are ISA/IEC 62443-4-2 certified, it means that their security in-depth design complies with rigorous requirements. They follow Cisco’s iterative process to identify and mitigate risks to make switches as secure as possible. Simply put, our switches meet the strict criteria for inclusion in a secure network.

For network buyers, the choice is secure

With all the choices in the marketplace for industrial networking equipment, buyers may have a difficult time comparing apples to apples. ISA/IEC 62443 is a gold standard metric for comparison. With Cisco’s entire portfolio of industrial switches now certified for both ISA/IEC 62443-4-1 and 4-2, we’re making it easy for you to standardize on a single comprehensive family of access, aggregation, and distribution switches that addresses all your use cases.

Of course, you need to ensure that despite all your precautions you don’t inadvertently allow vulnerabilities in your otherwise secure operations when installing machine builder solutions. Put down ISA/IEC 62443-4 certification requirements in your RFP, and make sure your machine builder partners use Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches in their solutions.

Learn more about Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches, Cisco Industrial Threat Defense, and read why Forrester has named Cisco a leader in OT cybersecurity for 2024, or book a free, zero-commitment one-on-one consultation with a Cisco cybersecurity expert and get a demonstration.

Share: