It has been around a year since the International Society of Automation put up a page for the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards. By now, many have already adopted it. It is not a mandatory family of standards imposed by government regulators, but many organizations acknowledge its benefits when it comes to securing automation and control systems.
This series of standards has a number of parts and subparts, starting with ISA-TR99.00.01 published in 2007 down to ANSI/ISA-62443-4-2, which was introduced in 2018. These are all related to security. However, IEC 62443-4-1 is the key standard as far as software development lifecycle security is concerned. It defines the process requirements for developing secure products.
It is worth examining this standard in light of the growing number of attacks on software, especially among low-resource mass-produced devices. The rise of IoT and embedded systems, in particular, has resulted in the emergence of more software vulnerabilities. This is something organizations should take seriously.
IEC 62443-4-1: Emphasizing Lifecycle Security
IEC 62443-4-1 lists the necessary attributes to build secure industrial automation and control systems (IACS). This covers different aspects: the definition of security requirements, secure design, secure implementation, security verification and validation, the management of security issues or defects, security patching, as well as product-end-of-life management.
The requirements defined in IEC 62443-4-1 apply to product developers and maintainers. It is not just about offering end users products that are secure. Security should be observed from the start of product conceptualization until the product is retired. It is antithetical to sell-and-forget practices, wherein products are sold without any monitoring and software updates to address newly discovered issues.
No connected device can be consistently secure without security patching, as it is impossible to write a perfectly secure code from the get-go. Threat actors will always find new ways to attack. They can employ sophisticated strategies, which have not been taken into account at the time the products were developed. As such, there is a need to implement security throughout the entire product development lifecycle.
Standards for Key Development Lifecycle Components
IEC 62443-4-1 sets standards in five key areas of product development. It starts with the establishment of security requirements, followed by the observance of secure design and secure implementation. Additionally, there are standards for security verification and validation as well as product maintenance and decommissioning.
From the start of the product development, IEC 62443-4-1 instills security into the development process by asking the development team to define and document the security requirements they expect for their product. For this, they need to conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify the possible weaknesses and attack points. The listing of security requirements serves as the foundation for secure design and implementation.
Once the security requirements are established, the development team formulates a secure design for the development process. This includes the principle of “defense in depth” or having a multi-layered defense strategy, secure architecture, threat modeling, authentication and access control, secure communication, secure configuration, security testing, secure software updates, and security documentation and training. It is advisable to incorporate these practices to solidify security posture and ensure cyber resilience.
Next is secure implementation or the execution of secure design. This entails a number of practices, the most notable of which are as follows: secure coding, code review, secure configuration management, rigorous code testing, vulnerability management, secure integration, hardware security, secure testing, secure supply chain, and proper documentation. There has to be a secure development environment, wherein appropriate security measures are enforced and access to data and resources is properly regulated.
After implementation comes security verification and validation. The development team should undertake comprehensive security testing to ascertain that the security requirements are met and implementation is consistent. For this, IEC 62443-4-1 advises the following procedures: vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, security audits, communication channel security testing, access control testing, fuzz testing, incident response resting, and security documentation review.
Moreover, IEC 62443-4-1 sets standards for product maintenance, which include security patching management, asset management, robust logging and monitoring, and efficient incident response. These procedures ensure that recent threats or newly discovered vulnerabilities that affect the product are promptly and properly addressed.
Also, in connection with the maintenance aspect, there are security practices recommended even at the end of a product’s useful life. These include secure disposal, data backup and archiving, the deactivation of accounts, arrangements for possible account reactivation, document retention, and knowledge transfer. There have to be protocols for product disposal to make sure that the sensitive information and active accounts in them do not become security risks. Conversely, if there are accounts and data that need to be handed to other users or new owners, IEC 62443-4-1 suggests that organizations should have all of these systematically plotted out.
Key Benefits of IEC 62443-4-1
Again, IEC 62443-4-1 is not a legally mandated standard, but it provides several benefits for those involved in automation and industrial system development. Adopting this standard, together with the rest of the standards in IEC 62443, yields invaluable advantages in the long run. It is also worth noting that these standards align with existing industry regulations on cybersecurity, so adoption is unlikely to be challenging and it helps organizations become familiar with compliance requirements.
One of the biggest benefits of IEC 62443-4-1 is proactive risk mitigation and management. The integration of security mechanisms in different development stages makes it easier to identify vulnerabilities in a timely manner and respond accordingly. Hence, it significantly reduces the risks of cyber-attacks and boosts system resilience.
Another crucial advantage is enhanced collaboration. Integrating security throughout the development lifecycle compels engineers, IT professionals, security experts, and others involved in the development process to share their insights and work in a cross-functional setup. This results in a holistic comprehension of the risks, which facilitates the development and enforcement of more effective threat mitigation and prevention solutions.
Ultimately, IEC 62443-4-1 helps businesses grow as they earn the trust and confidence of their customers and stakeholders. Secure development lifecycles prevent the worst consequences of cyber attacks, which not only cause operational and financial damage but also lead to reputational deterioration.
In Summary
IEC 62443-4-1 helps organizations implement a comprehensive framework for secure development lifecycles as it guides the establishment of security requirements, secure design, secure implementation, robust security verification and validation, and efficient product maintenance and secure decommissioning. These are crucial in industrial automation and control systems, especially with threat actors taking advantage of the tendency of many to be less meticulous when dealing with numerous devices and complex IT infrastructure.
Complying with IEC 62443-4-1 is not going to be a breeze for most organizations. However, it is definitely worth investing time and effort to adopt it. Besides, there are solutions that make it easier to adhere to IEC 62443 requirements. There are security and observability platforms designed for deterministic security that simplify the process of securing products throughout their development lifecycles.
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