Co-operation results in cybersecurity courses.

aeSolutions worked throughout 2015 with the International Society of Automation (ISA) to develop their new ISA/IEC 62443-based cybersecurity training and certificate program. The program is designed to help professionals involved in industrial IT and industrial control systems improve their understanding of, and acquire a command of the principles covered in, the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards.

These standards apply to all key industry sectors and critical infrastructure, providing students with the knowledge to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in industrial automation and control systems.

The entire program consists of four training courses. The fundamentals course is two days in length. Additional three day courses take deeper dives into risk assessment, design, and maintenance. All the courses include extensive high-quality hands-on labs. After attending each course, students may take an exam to demonstrate their command of the material. Students taking all four courses, and passing all four exams, are allowed to use the title ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Expert.

“It was an honor for me and my team to work with ISA, to fulfill our mutual vision to develop a practical, standards based curriculum, that will quickly enable industrial IT & automation professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to protect their companies ICS systems. I am particularly thankful to the ICS vendors who provided ISA with hardware, software, and support to make the hands-on labs extremely realistic”, states John Cusimano, aeSolutions’ Director of Industrial Cybersecurity.

Patrick Gouhin, Executive Director & CEO of ISA expressed his appreciation to aeSolutions and stated, “You truly employ world-class subject matter experts that are shaping the future when it comes to ICS cybersecurity knowledge.”

In addition to the training materials, the aeSolutions’ industrial cybersecurity team created exercises to take students from a variety of backgrounds introduce them to technology such as passive and active vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection, network monitoring, industrial firewalls, white listing, secure remote access, PLC configuration management, and system hardening.

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