New member for cybersecurity body.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) has announced that Agilicus has officially joined the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA), demonstrating its commitment to advancing operational (OT) cybersecurity through ISA/IEC 62443 and helping secure critical infrastructure.

Agilicus’ focus on zero trust and secure remote access aligns with key cybersecurity principles addressed within the ISA/IEC 62443 series, including identity and access management, least-privilege access, network segmentation, restricted data flows and secure access to industrial systems. Agilicus’ technology enables organizations to provide authorized users with secure remote access to critical resources, including SCADA environments, while reducing reliance on traditional perimeter-based approaches.

"Joining ISAGCA reflects our commitment to advancing OT cybersecurity," said Don Bowman, CEO and founder of Agilicus. "Our experience in protecting operational technology within critical infrastructure align perfectly with ISAGCA’s mission. We look forward to bringing our subject-matter expertise to ISAGCA and its members, including zero trust, protecting against AI-powered cyber threats and fortifying critical infrastructure including in regulated areas such as NERC CIP."

Created by ISA, the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance is a collaborative forum focused on strengthening OT cybersecurity through education, knowledge sharing and industry collaboration. Leveraging the ISA/IEC 62443 standards, ISAGCA works to expand cybersecurity expertise, openly share knowledge and resources and protect the OT cybersecurity worldwide community.

Through ISAGCA membership, Agilicus will collaborate with global industry leaders to accelerate awareness, adoption and implementation of the ISA/IEC 62443 standards framework while continuing their business focus on organizational learning and using advanced technology to make security simple and accessible. 

“This is an exciting milestone for the community,” said Michelle Ritterskamp, ISAGCA program coordinator. “Agilicus brings deep experience in operational technology environment and a strong commitment to measurable, standards-based cybersecurity.”

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A new cybersecurity member.

DeNexus has officially joined the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA), demonstrating its commitment to advancing operational (OT) cybersecurity through the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards.

Created by the International Sociey of Automation (ISA), the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance is a collaborative forum focused on strengthening OT cybersecurity through education, knowledge sharing and industry collaboration. Leveraging the widely used ISA/IEC 62443 standards, ISAGCA works to expand cybersecurity expertise, openly share knowledge and resources and protect the OT cybersecurity worldwide community.

DeNexus delivers an evidence-based solution for OT industrial stakeholders to gain visibility into each facility’s cyber exposure, calculate the probability and financial impact of potential cyber incidents and prioritize risk mitigation based on ROI or other KPIs. By joining ISAGCA, the company underscores its commitment to supporting standards-driven security practices across the OT lifecycle from system design and integration to operations and maintenance.

DeNexus founder and CEO Jose M. Seara spoke at the ISA OT Cybersecurity Summit in Prague (CZ) in June 2026, leading a session titled “OT Cyber Insurance and Risk Transfer: Right-Sizing Coverage Using Evidence, Not Guesswork.” Based on interest, he also conducted an encore presentation on the topic via webinar in September. Through ISAGCA membership, DeNexus will collaborate with global industry leaders to accelerate awareness, adoption and implementation of the ISA/IEC 62443 standards framework.

“This is a significant moment for the ISAGCA community,” said Michelle Ritterskamp, ISAGCA program coordinator. “DeNexus brings a deep OT technical experience and a desire to incorporate ISA/IEC 62443 into their business. ISAGCA staff would like to thank DeNexus for the excellent collaboration on programs already, and we look forward to further sharing DeNexus’ expertise in future initiatives.” 

"Industrial cyber risk has been invisible to the people who carry it — boards, CFOs and the markets that could underwrite it,” Seara said. “That's the problem I started DeNexus to solve, and it's the same problem ISA/IEC 62443 addresses from the standards side. A common standard for how OT security is designed and assessed is what makes risk assessable in the first place. And once risk can be assessed, it can be quantified, mitigated and transferred. That's the chain: ISA/IEC 62443 gives the industry a shared language for control, and our platform turns that control state into a financial number a board can govern by and an underwriter can price against. Joining ISAGCA puts us alongside the organizations building that foundation. Our mission is to make industrial cyber risk quantifiable for boards, investors and the risk transfer market — and standards are what make that possible at scale."

Automation Summit - Prague (June 2026)

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Advancing adoption of cybersecurity standards.

It has been announced that Sword has officially joined both the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) and ISASecure®. This move shows support for ISAGCA, the collaborative forum dedicated to advancing operational technology (OT) cybersecurity awareness and securing critical infrastructure, as well as the ISASecure certification program that validates conformance to the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards for industrial automation and control systems (IACS) cybersecurity.

“Joining ISAGCA and ISASecure reflects our commitment to advancing OT cybersecurity through globally recognised standards and independently validated assurance,” said Stuart Townhill, a principal consultant at Sword. “Our customers need clear, consistent ways to measure security maturity and trust their supply chains. ISA/IEC 62443 and the ISASecure program deliver precisely that — actionable requirements, repeatable assessments and transparent credentials.”

Sword works with organisations to maximise the value of investment in IT. This includes industrial and OT cybersecurity services and solutions that help critical infrastructure operators, manufacturers and energy providers reduce cyber risk, improve asset resilience and align with internationally recognised standards. By joining ISAGCA and ISASecure, Sword underscores its commitment to supporting standards-driven security practices across the OT lifecycle from system design and integration to operations and maintenance.

Through ISAGCA membership, Sword will collaborate with global industry leaders to accelerate awareness, adoption and harmonised implementation of the ISA/IEC 62443 standards framework. In parallel, participation in the ISASecure program will enable Sword to support certification pathways that validate products and systems against rigorous, consensus-based cybersecurity requirements, helping end users and suppliers demonstrate trustworthy security capabilities.

“This is an exciting milestone for the community,” said Mark DeAngelo, ISASecure program manager. “Sword brings deep experience in operational technology environments and a strong commitment to measurable, standards-based cybersecurity. Their dual participation in ISAGCA and ISASecure will help scale industry collaboration and drive validated conformance to ISA/IEC 62443 across global sectors.”

As a member of ISAGCA, Sword plans to promote practical guidance, reference architectures and workforce enablement aligned with ISA/IEC 62443. Within ISASecure, Sword will champion best practices for secure development, component and system certification and supplier assurance.

The ISA/IEC 62443 series provides a comprehensive framework for securing IACS, addressing people, process and technology across the ecosystem. ISASecure complements the standards by offering conformance certifications for products, systems and development practices, giving asset owners and integrators confidence in the security posture of their solutions.

Sword’s involvement in both ISAGCA and ISASecure helps accelerate the practical adoption of ISA/IEC 62443-based controls and drive broader market awareness of OT cybersecurity best practices.

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Cybersecurity standards designated to a wide range of industries.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) and the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) are proud to announce that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has officially designated the IEC/ISA 62443 series of standards as “horizontal,” meaning that they are proven to be applicable to a wide range of different industries.

According to the IEC decision, “The IEC Technical Committee 65 (TC 65) publishes IEC 62443 for operational technology found in industrial and critical infrastructure, including but not restricted to power utilities, water management systems, healthcare, and transport systems. These horizontal standards, also known as base standards, are technology independent. They can be applied across many technical areas.”

“The ISA99 committee of the International Society of Automation (ISA) and IEC Technical Committee 65 Working Group 10 have been collaborating on the development of the ISA/IEC 62443 cybersecurity standards for industrial automation and control systems (IACS) cybersecurity for many years. While broad applicability has always been the intent, there has been a common perception that they were most appropriate for process industries such as chemicals and refining,” explained ISA99 Co-Chair Eric Cosman. “Despite that perception, there have been several examples of successful applications in other sectors, such as transportation, building automation, metals and mining, and discrete manufacturing. It’s ultimately best for users if they can rely on one set of sector-agnostic standards, and we are very happy to receive the IEC decision to designate the ISA/IEC 62443 series as horizontal standards.”

The ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards is the world’s only consensus-based cybersecurity standard for automation and control system applications. These standards codify hundreds of years of operational technology and IoT cybersecurity subject matter expertise. Using the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards as a foundation, companies can focus on adopting security as part of the operations lifecycle, ensuring compliance with various aspects of the standards across their supply chains, and including cybersecurity in operational risk-management profiles.

“While this news might seem like a procedural detail, it will have significant implications,” said Cosman. “Various other IEC technical committees that represent the needs and interests of specific sectors will presumably base their cybersecurity-related efforts on what is in the 62443 standards, focusing on defining how they should be interpreted and applied in a given set of circumstances. This will almost certainly lead to the creation of a set of sector-specific profiles for this purpose. To help in this effort, TC65 WG10 is developing guidance on how to develop such profiles, rather than pursue sector-specific and perhaps inconsistent standards. Guidelines, frameworks, training materials, and other resources can also take on a more general focus, incorporating the needs of many sectors.”

The designation of the ISA/IEC 62443 series as a horizontal standard will have many benefits to stakeholders: 

• Asset owners who have a presence in or exposure to more than one sector will be able to align their cybersecurity programs, leveraging ISA/IEC 62443 as the one single source for the fundamental principles and requirements of automation cybersecurity
• Automation system suppliers will be able to certify their products for a broader range of applications, using a common set of conformance specifications based on 62443
• IEC TC 65 WG 10 and the ISA99 committee will be able to focus their efforts on collaboration and advancement of the series of standards, especially around current demands in areas such as IIoT, sensor-level security, and supply chain risks
• The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) and its 50+ member companies will partner with asset owners and suppliers to build relevant, applications-focused materials to enable companies in different sectors around the world to adopt and implement the series of standards at scale

“The member companies of the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance have long believed in the broad applicability of the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards,” said ISAGCA Chair Megan Samford,  “We could not be more excited to see this news from IEC, because it echoes and confirms the work we’ve done. This series of standards is the only complete set of practices and security capabilities that can be applied to consistently assess and improve cybersecurity for operational technology systems, and our members stand ready to help companies all over the globe implement it successfully.”

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Global cybersecurity.

Recent discussions have surfaced in the United States and other world governments about how to best secure automation and control systems that affect everyday lives, especially in critical infrastructure.

The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) recently released a position paper that describes the public policies and associated reference standards supported by the alliance.

"We at ISAGCA hope that USA Presidential executive orders, such as 14028, and other measures encourage those who support the nation’s critical infrastructure to develop and implement automation cybersecurity capabilities that will ensure the security of our way of life," said a spokesman.

Download your copy here!

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Applying cybersecurity standards.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) and the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA), with contributing author Pierre Kobes, have released a white paper entitled, “Applying ISO/IEC 27001/2 and the ISA/IEC 62443 Series for Operational Technology Environments.”

“I often hear the debate about whether to use ISO/IEC 27001/2 or ISA/IEC 62443 for securing OT infrastructure,” commented Andre Ristaino, Managing Director of ISAGCA. “The right answer is both, and this whitepaper describes how these two globally-accepted standards can be used together for establishing an integrated, company-wide cybersecurity plan.”

Many organizations have established policies and procedures governing the IT security in their office environment predominantly based on ISO/IEC 27001/2. Some organizations have attempted to secure their operational technology (OT) infrastructure under the ISO/IEC 27001/2 management system and have leveraged IT commonalities in their OT environments. However, the ISA/IEC 62443 series are purpose-built for securing OT systems and when used in combination with ISO/IEC 27001/2, it ensures that organizations maintain conformance with ISO/IEC 27001/2 through common approaches wherever feasible, while applying different approaches for IT vs. OT where needed.

The white paper offers guidance for organizations familiar with ISO/IEC 27001 who are interested in protecting the OT infrastructure of their operating facilities by applying the ISA/IEC 62443 series. It describes the relationship between the ISA/IEC 62443 series and ISO/IEC 27001/2 and how both standards may be effectively used in a complementary approach within one organization to protect both IT and OT.

The paper may be downloaded from the ISA website here.

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First responder program for ICS cyber incidents announced.

The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) and the Incident Command System for Industrial Control Systems (ICS4ICS) announced today the release of a cybersecurity first responder credentialing program.

The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance has joined forces with the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and cybersecurity response teams from more than 50 participating companies to adopt the USA FEMA's Incident Command System framework for response structure, roles, and interoperability. This is the system used by First Responders globally when responding to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, industrial accidents, and other high impact situations.

Incident Command Systems have been tested over more than 30 years of emergency and non-emergency applications, throughout all levels of government and within the private sector.

The ICS4ICS approach guides companies, organizations, and municipalities in identifying an incident, assessing damage, addressing immediate challenges, communicating with the right agencies and stakeholders, and resuming day to day operations. The framework applies traditional Incident Command Systems best practices to cybersecurity incidents, ensuring common terminology and enabling diverse incident management and support entities to work together. ICS4ICS provides clearly defined command structures, including standard roles needed in a response, and the framework can scale to support small or extremely large-scale incidents that impact many organizations.

“For many years, we’ve needed ICS4ICS, to enable collectively organized cyber and physical responses in a unified way. Credentialing cybersecurity first responders is an important milestone in this valuable public-private partnership,” said ISAGCA Advisory Board chairperson and ICS4ICS leader Megan Samford, VP and Chief Product Security Officer of Schneider Electric’s energy management business. “We’ve developed an adjudication process and certified our first four responders. I’m proud to be one of them and stand ready to help companies recover from cyber incidents.”

The adjudication process, managed by a formal committee within ICS4ICS, consists of an application process and panel of incident command system (ICS) subject matter experts who evaluate the candidate’s submittal. The inaugural round of credentialing recognizes these cybersecurity experts:

• Mark Bristow, Branch Chief of Cyber Defense Coordination at CISA, whose 15-year career with US government cybersecurity agencies includes responses to incidents ranging from Ukraine cyberattacks to attempts by Russian government hackers to intrude on energy equities
• Neal Gay, Senior Manager of Managed Defense/Industrial Control Systems at FireEye
• Megan Samford, ISAGCA Chairperson; VP and Chief Product Security Officer of Schneider Electric’s energy management business
• Brian Wisniewski, US Army Reserve

Interested companies and organizations can engage with ICS4ICS to learn how they can participate in this multilateral preparedness scheme for responding to cyber incidents. There are no membership requirements to participate, and we are seeking broad engagement from both the private and public sectors. The proven approach is vetted by industry companies and subject matter experts and the program has significant value for small to medium sized entities that do not have the time, finances, or personnel to assign a full-time cyber response unit, but still need to develop plans and train employees accordingly.

• ISAGCA recently released a blog article on ICS4ICS entitled, “Addressing the Downstream Effect of a Cyber Attack,” as well as the webinar, “ICS4ICS Stands Up ICS Incident Response System 2021,” featuring Neal Gay.

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Security Risk Assessment for Design.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) and the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA), with contributing author Harold Thomas, have released a white paper entitled "Leveraging ISA 62443-3-2 For IACS Risk Assessment and Risk Related Strategies." ^*

The white paper provides the reader with an overview of ISA 62443-3-2, “Security Risk Assessment for Design,” as well as a summary of some of the methodologies that can be used to assist the execution of the industrial automation control system (IACS) cybersecurity risk assessment work process requirements, detailed in the standard.

The major steps include: Identification of the System under Consideration (SuC) Perform an Initial Cyber Risk Assessment Partition the SuC into Zones and Conduits Perform a Detailed Level Cyber Risk Assessment Document Updated Cyber Security Requirements for Detailed Design

“ISAGCA’s mission is to enable and accelerate adoption of cybersecurity practices for all stakeholder groups based on the ISA/IEC 62443 family of automation cybersecurity standards,” commented Andre Ristaino, ISAGCA Managing Director. “Our member companies are working in collaboration with one another, industry partners, and regulatory/legislative bodies to secure automation that affects our everyday lives.”

*In addition to the white paper, ISAGCA and Harold Thomas have previously released a May 6th 2021 webinar on the subject, as well as a blog entitled “Getting Started With Cybersecurity Risk Assessment: When It’s Not About Information Technology” published later in the same month.

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Secure PLC coding!

The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA), along with admeritia GmbH, has released the Top 20 Secure PLC Coding Practices document. The document aims to provide a list of coding practices for PLC programmers that have benefits for the IT security of PLCs and the plants they control.

The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance is proud to be a contributing organization for the release of the Top 20 Secure PLC Coding best practices document. This public-sourced document utilized our members and leaders, many of whom have graciously volunteered their time, to join forces with other colleagues and experts from around the world to help develop this grassroots list.

"At S4x20, Jake Brodsky identified that engineers and others who are programming and configuring PLC's are not being taught security practices,” said Dale Peterson, Creator and Program Chair of S4. “It's gratifying that the community, including organizations like ISAGCA, came together to fill this gap by creating and making freely available the Top 20 PLC Secure Coding Practices."

“ISAGCA is pleased with the project's release and are looking forward to its future utilization for our members. The Top 20 Secure PLC Coding best practices document is sure to benefit the entire automation community in the ever-important PLC space,” said ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance Managing Director Andre Ristaino.

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