IEC 62443 Compliance

IEC 62443 is the international standard series for industrial automation and control system (IACS) cybersecurity. It defines security requirements across four levels — from component to system — and is the de facto standard for OT security in manufacturing, energy, water, and critical infrastructure. Compliance is increasingly mandated by regulators, insurers, and enterprise customers.

ISO 27001 is a general-purpose ISMS standard for information assets, while IEC 62443 is purpose-built for industrial control systems with specific requirements around safety integration (SR), availability priorities, and zone-based segmentation. Many OT environments pursue both: ISO 27001 for the enterprise IT side, IEC 62443 for the IACS side.

No. Our assessment methodology is designed for live production environments. We use passive network monitoring, configuration reviews, and off-hours active testing windows. The only exception is specific vulnerability validation that may require a scheduled maintenance window — we coordinate this with your operations team well in advance.

IEC 62443 defines four security levels (SL 0–4) that classify the protection required against threats of increasing sophistication. SL-T (Target) is the desired security level for a zone or conduit, defined during risk assessment per IEC 62443-3-2. SL-C (Capability) is the achieved security level after controls are implemented, measured against IEC 62443-3-3 foundational requirements (FR1–FR7). SL-A (Achieved) reflects the actual security posture after verification testing.

A typical engagement runs 10–14 weeks for a mid-sized manufacturing facility: 2–3 weeks for discovery and zone/conduit mapping, 5–6 weeks for technical testing and control validation, and 3–4 weeks for reporting and remediation guidance. Large multi-site IACS environments with complex network topologies may require 16–20 weeks. We provide a detailed project timeline during scoping.

IEC 62443 is not a law itself but is increasingly referenced in national regulations and industry mandates. The EU NIS 2 Directive, Germany’s IT Security Act 2.0 (BSI-KritisV), and several APAC critical-infrastructure regulations all reference IEC 62443 requirements. Many industrial insurers now require IEC 62443-aligned assessments as a condition of coverage. Even where not legally mandated, compliance is often a contractual requirement from enterprise customers and system integrators.

Yes. Our assessment frameworks are designed to maximise overlap and minimise duplication. ISO 27001 covers enterprise IT and ISMS processes, while IEC 62443 addresses OT/IACS-specific security requirements. A combined assessment covers shared controls once and maps findings to both standards, reducing total assessment time by approximately 25–35% compared to running the engagements separately.