Executive Summary

In an increasingly digitized, interconnected and regulated industrial environment, the need for highly trained professionals in Instrumentation and Control (CI) is critical. This document presents the rationale for investing in ISA’s complete training program in Industrial Cybersecurity, as a strategic decision to improve the operational reliability, personnel capabilities, and cybersecurity posture of the industrial organization. The expected result is reduced downtime, improved security, and enhanced protection of critical assets.

The incorporation of the ISA/IEC-62443 series of standards in an industrial organization in the right way is an investment that enhances the company’s value. Poorly implemented, it ends up being an expense and a loss of value of the resources dedicated.

Don’t get carried away by scary campaigns. The organization will make better decisions, evaluate its suppliers better, better select the tools it will acquire, will better specify its technical needs for a fairer and more valuable purchase, will mitigate cyber risks, will be in a position to certify, reduce insurance premiums, generate trust with the global community, its investors and its employees.

Current Context and Challenges

Industrial plants today face multiple challenges:

• Increasing complexity in control systems.
• Shortage of talent specialized in industrial cybersecurity.
• Loss of consciousness due to an aging workforce.
• Increase in cyber threats in OT environments.
• Constant pressure to reduce unplanned downtime and improve safety indicators.

Although plants have advanced technology, many lack trained personnel to configure, maintain, and optimize their systems effectively, leading to bottlenecks and operational risks.

Justification for Investment in the ISA Industrial Cybersecurity Program

The ISA (International Society of Automation) is a world-renowned organization in industrial automation. Its Industrial Cybersecurity program offers structured, progressive, agnostic, and vendor-neutral training, covering:

• Fundamentals of measurement and control.
• Field instrumentation and signal standards.
• Strategies for control and tightening of ties.
• Loop diagrams, wiring, and documentation.
• Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS).
• Diagnosis and troubleshooting.
• And many more.

Investing in this program ensures that our teams are trained under international standards, beyond internal procedures.

The ISA/IEC-62443 series of standards are the only internationally recognized standards developed by consensus of the global industry and by the organization that knows most about instrumentation, control systems and industrial processes.

Strategic and Technical Benefits

• Operational Excellence: Trained personnel can optimize systems to improve efficiency, quality, and availability.
• Risk Mitigation: Understanding security systems and control logic reduces the likelihood of incidents.
• Cybersecurity Preparedness: Modern professionals need to understand the relationship between control logic and digital security.
• Talent Development and Retention: Structured career development increases employee engagement and loyalty.
• Cross-Cutting Impact: Improves communication between engineering, maintenance, and automation.
• Ownership: Industrial cybersecurity is a plant problem, not an IT security problem. Taking ownership of the problem.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Although the training costs are clear, the benefits far outweigh the investment:

• Less frequency and duration of unplanned stops.
• Reduction of maintenance interventions and external assistance.
• Improved response to alarms and abnormal conditions.
• Faster commissioning and troubleshooting
• Fewer errors in documentation and loop testing.
• Better, more economical and long-lasting decisions.

Avoiding even a single critical event can justify the full investment.

About the ISA Industrial Cybersecurity Training Program

• Taught by experts with hands-on experience.
• Modular structure: from basic to advanced levels.
• Globally recognized certifications.
• Aimed at engineers, technicians and OT personnel.
• Flexible modalities: face-to-face, online or hybrid.
• In our particular case we are co-authors of the program. We have been part of the ISA Training team since the creation of the program.

The training is vendor-neutral, facilitating the transfer of knowledge between platforms.

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Conclusion

Investing in the full ISA Industrial Cybersecurity training program is not just an educational decision, but a key strategy to achieve operational resilience, technical excellence, and future-proof our workforce.

It is recommended to implement a phased enrollment plan, focusing on key maintenance, instrumentation, automation, and operations roles over a period of 6 to 12 months.

ISA’s professional training and certificate program is clearly necessary for the most influential people in engineering development, technology selection, industrial process risk management, and auditors. All those who wish to specialize and improve in cybersecurity and cyber resilience in Operation Technology (OT) environments.