Cybersecurity
Table of contents
Introduction to the directives
The digital transformation of industries has increased cyber threats on businesses and thedaily number of attacks is increasing.
The EU has introduced new directives:
NIS
Introduced in August 2016, enforced from 2017.
Applied to Essential Entities
- Energy, transport
- Digital infrastructure
- Water
- Healthcare
- Financial services
- Public administration
NIS2
The latest regulation in force since October 2024.
Expands the scope
(with enforcement)
to Important Entities
- Postal services
- Chemicals
- Food production
- Manufacturing research
Adopts IEC-62664 for hardware compliance.
CRA
Due to come into force in October 2027.
Final details still under review. Approx 50% more content than NIS2
What are the basic requirements?
| Security Measures | Mandatory incident reporting |
|---|---|
For this you will need IEC-62443 certified products! |
For this you will need a suitable Compliance Management System (CMS)! |
Who does this affect?

| NIS2 Sector | Subdivisions for Industrial & Networking/Computing Solutions |
|---|---|
| Critical Products Manufacturing | Medical and diagnostics equipment, computers & computers systems, electronic / optical / electrical systems, heavy machinery, motor vehicles & trailers , other transport equipment. |
| Communications Networks | Physical fibre / copper / radio infrastructure, service delivery platforms, network operations centres. |
| Social Networks & Datacentres | Physical colocation / hosting infrastructure, power control and HVAC systems, access management, Network back-end infrastructure for Cloud computing, online marketplaces and search engines. |
| Water Treatment | Reservoir / borehole monitoring & control, pumping stations, water quality monitoring, waste water collection / treatment / discharge |
| Space | Satellite tracking & control, telemetry and tracking for mission control centres / launch infrastructure |
| Food | Automated production lines, food storage / cold chain monitoring, quality control, warehouse management and supply chain logistics |
| Postal Services | Automated parcel sorting machinery, conveyor control, video surveillance, logistics / tracking / fleet management |
| Public Administration | Critical departmental networks and data processing facilities, traffic control and public utility management for regional / local government |
Our approach to staying legal (for the companies affected by the scope of NIS2)...
- Protect (against breaches)
- Detect (if a breach occurs)
- Identify (the issues)
- Report (suspect activity) &
- Recover (from the attack)
(Compliance Management System) within their business organisation
- Leading to a process of continuous review &
- Natural adjustment to comply as the standards evolve
It's mandatory from October 2027. (NIS2 makes-up about 67% of the CRA.)
IEC-62443 Jargon made simple
"SCOPE"
There are 4 parts to this...

Part 1 gives an overview of the secure development processes that apply to everyone.
Part 2 focusses on policies & procedures for the asset owners or service providers, dealing with the organisational and procedural aspects of Cybersecurity.
Part 3 focusses on the system level aspects for systems integrators, including security risk assessment for the system design.
Part 4 focusses on the product for the component-level product suppliers / manufacturers and is a technical-oriented standard.
Products from SPHINX will comply with IEC-62443-4-x only, because these apply to the product supplier and this is our area of operation.
Where '-x' is -1 or -2
-1 relates to the product development requirements
-2 relates to the technical security requirement for IACS* components
*Industrial Automation and Control System
"FOUNDATION REQUIREMENTS (FR)"
Cross industry collaboration against cyber threats has resulted in a list of 123 Foundation Requirements which have been grouped into 7 categories...

"SECURITY LEVELS (SL)"
There are 5 Security Levels...
Each SL (above 0) covers anincreasing proportion of theFoundation Requirements.
For most industrial applications SL2 is deemed to be sufficient.
Higher levels will have anunacceptable impact on day-to-day operation & maintenance &cost much more to produce.

"Certification" vs "Compliance"
NIS2 requires IEC-62443 "compliance".
| Compliance | Certification |
|---|---|
|
|
Product ranges from SPHINX
Our IEC62443-4-2 CERTIFIED industrial product ranges include:
| No | Product Range | Advantech | InHand | Moxa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Embedded Computers (RISC) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 2 | Edge Gateways | ✔ | ✔ | |
| 3 | Routers | ✔ | ✔ | |
| 4 | Managed Network Switches | ✔ | ✔ | |
| 5 | Wireless | ✔ | ||
| 6 | Touch Panel PCs | ✔ | ||
| 7 | Management Software (not actually certifiable) |
✔ | ✔ |














