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Our Focus

Building the First Standards Development Organization (SDO) for Cybersecurity Architecture & Engineering

As cyber threats evolve in complexity and scale, the role of security architects and engineers becomes increasingly critical. These professionals are responsible for designing and securing the technical backbone of today’s cloud-native, hybrid, and enterprise systems.

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However, the absence of dedicated cybersecurity architecture standards has led to fragmented practices, vendor-driven tooling, and inconsistent design approaches—undermining both resilience and trust across organizations.

A New Kind of Standards Body

What’s missing is not just guidance—but a formal, technical Standards Development Organization (SDO) built by and for cybersecurity architects, engineers, and design leaders.

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ISAUnited.org fills that void.

We are not a general “standards organization.” We are a purpose-driven, practitioner-led SDO committed to:

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  • Developing technically rigorous, peer-reviewed architecture standards

  • Applying engineering principles, systems thinking, and traceability

  • Defining a global benchmark for Security by Design, beyond checklists or compliance

 

Our mission is grounded in three pillars:
Clarity. Discipline. Practicality.
These principles guide every standard, publication, course, and credential we offer.

Our Origin and Evolution

In 2019, a team of cybersecurity engineers and architects founded the IT Security Alliance as an open collaboration group, seeking to bridge gaps between IT and security teams through architecture-first thinking.

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By 2022, it was clear the community needed more than just discussion—it needed defensible, enforceable, and auditable standards. We evolved into ISAUnited.org—the Institute of Security Architecture United—and began our transition into a true SDO.

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With this transformation, ISAUnited became a closed, membership-based SDO, focused on:

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  • Formal standardization of cybersecurity architecture practices

  • Supporting professional licensing and credentialing

  • Promoting security-by-design adoption across industries

What Is a Standards Development Organization (SDO)?

A Standards Development Organization (SDO) is a formal entity responsible for the creation, publication, and maintenance of technical standards across specific industries. These standards are vital for ensuring consistency, interoperability, security, and quality in systems and infrastructure.

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Unlike informal or advisory bodies, SDOs follow structured development lifecycles, involving:

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  • Consensus-based drafting

  • Peer and public review

  • Versioning and traceability

  • Engineering validation and testability

 

SDOs provide a neutral, trusted framework for industries to align on secure, reliable foundations—and that’s exactly what ISAUnited is delivering for cybersecurity architecture.

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