Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, has been certified by exida, a globally recognised ISO 17065 accredited Certification Body in cybersecurity, for compliance with its Security Development Lifecycle certification based on IEC 62443-4-1.
exida’s first industry certificate for SDL applies to Schneider Electric’s Process Automation business product development centres in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Worthing, UK, and Hyderabad, India. It is based on international cybersecurity standards and was developed to accelerate industry-wide cybersecurity improvement for industrial automation and control systems (IACS).
“The exida SDL certification demonstrates Schneider Electric’s commitment to setting industry benchmarks when it comes to secure industrial automation and control systems,” said William Goble, PhD, exida Managing Director. “They have a strong, industry-leading product development process to begin with and take a very serious view of every cybersecurity issue. They built upon that reputation to meet exida’s certification requirements and have strengthened the process that already helps them avoid and counter vulnerabilities.”
Cybersecurity is fundamental to Schneider Electric’s principles of helping its customers achieve more with fewer resources in a more connected world. “As IT and OT converge, more technology is connecting with more technology; more people are connecting with more technology; more people are connecting with more people. All this connectivity is driving an influx of data that is both beneficial and overwhelming,” said said Raja Macha, Vice President, research and development for Schneider Electric’s Process Automation business. “We can help customers take advantage of all this connectivity—what we call the IIoT—as well as make sense of all that data, but it all has to be secured first. That’s why we address safety and cybersecurity concerns head on. Not only are our offers ‘secure by design,’ meaning security is inherent to our system design and delivery, but our stronger cybersecurity services complement the protections already designed into our products, targeting people, competencies and processes to ensure there are no gaps.”
The new exida certification applies to Schneider Electric’s Foxboro Evo process control system and Foxboro SCADA systems. Additionally, the three certified sites demonstrate that Schneider Electric uses a product development lifecycle that considers cybersecurity in every phase, part of an institutionalised commitment to securing industrial automation and control systems.