International Society of Automation executive director Patrick Gouhin delivered a keynote address, "Utilizing an Operational Technologies Approach to Mitigating Cybersecurity Risk," on Dec. 16 at the Cybersecurity Conference in Raleigh, N.C., which was co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.
Experts from government, law enforcement and the private sector offered best practices to help small- and mid-size businesses navigate the cybersecurity framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and released by the Obama administration in 2014.
Gouhin described standards development work by ISA99, a consensus-based standards committee of more than 500 international experts representing all sectors and critical infrastructures, including energy, water, chemical processing, petroleum refining, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing. The committee is developing technical standards and best practices (ISA/IEC 62443) focused on industrial automation and control systems security. The keynote also featured information about ISASecure conformance schemes for certifying products.
"The challenges we face are very real, and the solutions are vital to the survival and success of manufacturing companies and critical infrastructure around the world," says Gouhin. "We have hundreds of cybersecurity experts from around the world working together to deliver common-sense risk mitigation approaches for industry, and we look forward to continuing our leadership in this area."
