EtherCAT certified cybersecure to IEC 62443

Independent safety company UL Solutions has issued certificates confirming that EtherCAT meets IEC 62443/CRA requirements for Security Level 2 without modifications.

The report and certificates from UL Solutions, following testing in accordance with IEC 62443, confirm the EtherCAT Technology Group’s statements that EtherCAT technology already meets the requirements for systems exposed to cyber attacks corresponding to Security Level 2 without any modifications.

In its European version IEC 62443, the international standard for cybersecurity of industrial control systems, will also form the basis for the European Cyber Resilience Act. The investigations show that no hardware changes are necessary for higher security requirements — and with targeted software enhancements, higher security levels can also be achieved based on the EtherCAT system.

UL mapped more than 100 System Requirements (SR) of IEC 62443-3-3 to three typical EtherCAT systems with different threat scenarios and evaluated the degree of compliance achieved by EtherCAT.

“We at UL Solutions were delighted to work with an industrial protocol which has security capabilities and enablement-by-design as well as hardware-implemented security, which is second-to-none in the category of industrial protocols”, said Alexander W. Koehler, S&S Principal Security Advisor for Cybersecurity at UL Solutions. “IT- and OT security have not been best friends in the past. IT security requirements have often been driven by typical short product lifecycles of office worker equipment, which contrast with industrial equipment with long lifecycles. In consequence there are still many products in the industrial field without or weak security built in, labelled as legacy products. EtherCAT is a positive exception here.”

“The results of the extensive investigations confirm the ETG’s assessment that EtherCAT already provides a high level of cybersecurity protection for industrial applications today,” said Dr Guido Beckmann, Chair of the Technical Committee of the EtherCAT Technology Group. “The tested and documented features and measures form the basis for the recommendations and specifications we are developing for manufacturers and users of EtherCAT devices.”

Image: (L–R) Martin Rostan, Executive Director, EtherCAT Technology Group; Torsten Förder, Cybersicherheits-Experte, Beckhoff Automation; Alexander W. Köhler, S&S Principal Security Advisor for Cybersecurity, UL Solutions; Sebastian Krug, Senior Key Account Executive, UL GmbH. Credit: ETG