What is an Information Security Officer (ISO)?
An Information Security Officer (ISO) is responsible for monitoring, coordinating and improving information security within an organisation. In environments with industrial automation (OT), the ISO is a key role bridging IT, OT, Compliance and management.
The ISO focuses on both information security (data, systems) and the protection of critical production processes in OT environments such as SCADA, PLC, Control Network and Historian.
🧠 Tasks and responsibilities of the ISO
- Policy and strategy
- Develops and maintains the information security policy
- Ensures alignment with standards such as ISO 27001, IEC 62443, BIO and NIS2
- Risk analysis and measures
- Performs risk assessments and Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
- Determines appropriate technical and organisational measures
- Implementation and control
- Advises on security architecture (Purdue Model, zones and conduits model)
- Aligns with IT and OT on, among others, Access Control, encryption, Backup and patch management
- Awareness and training
- Initiates Security Awareness programmes
- Promotes a security culture and a reporting duty
- Oversight & compliance
- Performs audits and internal reviews
- Prepares for external audits (e.g. ISO 27001, FISMA, BIO)
- Reports to executive management or the CISO
- Incident management
- Acts during incidents alongside CSIRT or the OT SOC
- Oversees execution of the Incident Response Plan and Forensics
🏭 The ISO’s role in an OT context
| Specific in OT | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Understanding of production processes | The impact of downtime is large (safety, cost, output) |
| Working with operations | OT engineers are often not security experts |
| Attention to legacy systems | Limitations in patching, logging and authentication |
| Integrating IT/OT policy | Avoids blind spots and organisational silos |
The ISO plays a central role in bridging IT and OT security.
🔍 ISO vs. other security roles
| Role | Focuses on |
|---|---|
| ISO | Operational execution of information security |
| CISO | Strategic policy and governance |
| Security Officer | Technical execution & incidents |
| Data Protection Officer (DPO) | GDPR / privacy compliance |
📌 In summary
The Information Security Officer (ISO) is responsible for safeguarding information security at the tactical level, in both IT and OT. With knowledge of regulation, risk management and OT systems, the ISO is indispensable for secure industrial processes.