PROFINET Forum

What does Security Class 2/3 mean and what does it include?

Webinar_Question wrote: ↑25 Apr 2025, 09:41 What does Security Class 2/3 mean and what does it include?

PROFINET Security Classes describe the security capabilities of PROFINET devices (IO devices and IO controllers).
Security Class 2 includes

• authentication of AR endpoints during AR establishment

• cryptographic protection of messages within ARs (integrity protection)

• role-based access control

• auditable event logging.

=> It's similar to emails: I know exactly who sent the message and that it wasn't changed on its way to me because it was signed.

Security Class 3 includes (in addition to the Security Class 2 capabilities):

• cryptographic protection of messages within ARs (authenticated encryption)

In order to make use of these capabilties, both endpoints of an AR must support the respective security class (at least).
=> It's similar to emails: the message was encrypted