Secure production control system!

Yokogawa's CENTUM® VP production control system has obtained the ISASecure® Embedded Device Security Assurance (EDSA) certification from the ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI) .

Cybercrime and cyber warfare are on the rise worldwide, and are growing ever more sophisticated. Recent prominent cases of industrial sabotage and espionage have escalated these concerns. Companies in the oil, petrochemical, power, and other industries are increasingly vigilant about such intrusions, and are being careful to check a product's cyber security features before purchasing it. To assure customers of the high reliability of its products, Yokogawa obtained the ISASecure EDSA certification for the CENTUM VP production control system through a process that involved an examination by the CSSC (Control System Security Center) Certification Laboratory. This is the second Yokogawa product to receive ISASecure EDSA certification; the ProSafe®-RS safety instrumented system received the same certification earlier this year.

Nobuaki Konishi, vice president of the PA Systems Business Center in Yokogawa's Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters, had the following to say about this development: "Yokogawa is continually striving to provide its customers with optimum security solutions for their control systems by such means as developing highly secure systems and instruments and providing operational support services. Yokogawa aims to strengthen its relationships with customers by demonstrating the reliability of its security solutions."

The ISCI promotes various security evaluation initiatives and is comprised mainly of ISA members. The ISASecure program has been developed by the ISCI with the goal of accelerating the industry-wide improvement of cyber security for industrial automation and control systems (IACS). It achieves this goal by offering a common industry-recognised set of device and process requirements that drive device security, simplifying procurement for asset owners and device assurance for equipment vendors. The ISASecure EDSA certification has three elements: communication robustness testing (CRT), functional security assessment (FSA), and software development security assessment (SDSA), and is based on the IEC 62443-4 standard.