Industrial Cybersecurity Insider

Craig and Dino address one of the most overlooked problems in OT security: the IIoT devices your security tools don't automatically detect.

Most OT intrusion detection platforms do a reasonable job of identifying core control-layer assets such as PLCs, drives, and motor control centers. The problem is everything else. Laptops plugged into the network, third-party devices brought in by contractors, and a growing range of connected IIoT equipment often go completely undetected. Those are the gaps where risk accumulates.

Craig and Dino explain why the belief that machines are air-gapped is a dangerous myth, how PLCs acting as gateways prevent intrusion detection platforms from seeing the devices behind them, and why an asset inventory is not the same as knowing your real risk and CVE exposure in multi-vendor environments.

They reframe OT cybersecurity as a process-integrity problem and show how unmanaged network activity, third-party remote access, and even routine IT security scans can quietly degrade OEE and trigger unplanned downtime that costs millions.

Using predictive-maintenance analogies such as thermal, harmonics, and vibration sensing, they make the case for treating digital anomalies the same way mature plants already treat mechanical ones.

They close by examining why so many OT detection tools become shelfware, how to escape alert fatigue, and the two practical paths to real IT/OT convergence: building the right relationships with OEMs, system integrators, and AEC partners, and designing security-ready facilities from the ground up.

It's a practical listen for CISOs, plant and engineering leaders, and OT/IT teams responsible for securing manufacturing and critical infrastructure.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) - Why No Industrial Asset Is Truly Air-Gapped
• (00:01:08) - IoT vs. IIoT: How OT Assets Get Classified
• (00:03:15) - The Control-Layer Blind Spot: Drives, Robots, and Motor Controls
• (00:05:25) - How PLC Gateways Hide Assets From Intrusion Detection
• (00:07:30) - Asset Inventory Isn't Risk: The CVE Gap in Multi-Vendor Plants
• (00:08:55) - When Cyber Blind Spots Become Costly Downtime
• (00:10:05) - Process Integrity: How Security Scans Disrupt Production
• (00:11:35) - Predictive Maintenance Meets Digital Anomaly Detection
• (00:17:45) - Avoiding OT Shelfware and Alert Fatigue
• (00:19:45) - IT/OT Convergence: Choosing a Partner and Building Secure-by-Design

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

The joint CISA, FBI, Department of War, Department of Energy, and Department of State briefing on adapting Zero Trust to operational technology landed on April 29. Has OT leadership read it?

In this episode, Craig and Dino address how the European Cyber Resilience Act is quietly forcing US plants into failed audits, why IT teams still see less than a third of OT assets, how EDR tools are taking down $100K-an-hour packaging lines, and why only a handful of integrators in North America have a real OT cybersecurity practice.

They walk through what zero trust and micro-segmentation actually look like inside a 20-year-old plant with flat layer-two networks, DLR rings, jump boxes, and Cradlepoint workarounds, and lay out the first concrete move every CISO and CIO should make to start closing the IT/OT gap.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) - Cold Open: How the European CRA Is Failing US Plants
• (00:01:30) - The April 29 CISA/FBI Zero Trust in OT Briefing Nobody Read
• (00:05:00) - Compliance Without Teeth: Why US Regulations Aren't Moving the Needle
• (00:07:30) - When CrowdStrike Shuts Down a $100K-an-Hour Packaging Line
• (00:10:30) - The Visibility Gap: IT Sees Less Than a Third of OT Assets
• (00:15:30) - OEM Resistance: The Million-Dollar, Six-Month Cybersecurity Tax
• (00:18:30) - The Cradlepoint Workaround: How Plant Managers Bypass IT
• (00:21:30) - Layering Zero Trust onto a 20-Year-Old Plant Without Rip-and-Replace
• (00:25:30) - Why Only 5–10 of 1,000 Integrators Have a Real OT Cyber Practice
• (00:31:30) - Where CISOs Should Actually Be Looking (Hint: Not RSA or Black Hat)

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

Most manufacturing organizations still operate with a dangerous blind spot: IT and OT teams working in completely different dimensions with no shared visibility into plant floor cybersecurity.

In this episode, Dino and Jim break down why 90% of manufacturers remain in the unaware-to-awareness phase when it comes to OT cybersecurity. They address what happens when IT tries to shoehorn enterprise security into operational environments they don't understand, and how the lack of collaboration between these two groups leads to costly unplanned downtime — sometimes at $100,000 per hour or more.

Drawing from real client engagements, they reveal why OT must take a leadership role in cybersecurity (just like safety), how OT IDS tools can deliver operational value far beyond threat detection, and what it actually takes to get IT and OT speaking the same language before a breach forces them to.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) - Why IT and OT Need to Get to the Table Now
• (00:01:47) - Cats and Dogs Living Together: The IT/OT Culture Clash
• (00:03:00) - 90% of Manufacturers Are Still in the Dark on OT Cyber
• (00:06:00) - What Is OT and Why Don't OT People Know They're OT?
• (00:08:45) - Real Client Story: The Missing OT Team on a Global Kickoff
• (00:13:00) - Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission: How OT Workarounds Create Risk
• (00:15:00) - The OT IDS Tool Nobody's Sharing With OT
• (00:19:30) - Why Manual Discovery Assessments Are Throwing Money Away
• (00:21:00) - 15 Switch Manufacturers in One Plant: The Architecture Nightmare
• (00:25:30) - OT Cybersecurity Is the New Safety — Treat It Like One
• (00:29:00) - Final Advice for IT and OT Teams Ready to Converge

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

Craig sits down with Wil Klusovsky, a 26-year cybersecurity veteran and CRO at viLogics, to break down why asset visibility and exposure management are the foundation of any solid OT security strategy.

From the myth of the air-gapped shop floor to the real-world math behind quantifying cyber risk in dollars and cents, Will and Craig explore how manufacturers can move beyond fear-based selling, bridge the gap between IT and operations, and build programmatic cybersecurity that protects both production uptime and the bottom line.

They discuss how to frame cyber risk as business risk, why compensating controls and context matter more than raw vulnerability numbers, and why the CISO's real job is "chief inside selling officer."

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) - Welcoming Will to the Podcast!
• (00:02:12) - Why Asset Visibility Is the Starting Point for OT Security
• (00:03:48) - The Air Gap Myth and Legacy Systems on the Shop Floor
• (00:04:52) - Translating Cyber Risk Into Dollars and Cents
• (00:07:05) - Quantifying Downtime: Mean Time to Recovery and True Cost of Ownership
• (00:09:55) - Risk Appetite: Spend to Mitigate or Accept the Exposure?
• (00:11:32) - Who Really Owns the Risk? Executives, Not CISOs
• (00:13:00) - Uptime, OEE, and Why Cybersecurity Risk Is Business Risk
• (00:15:45) - Remote Access Risks and Competing Priorities on the Shop Floor
• (00:18:04) - The "Chief Inside Selling Officer" — Getting Buy-In Before Budget
• (00:19:48) - The Get Out of Jail Free Card: Aligning Incentives Across Teams
• (00:22:30) - Context Over CVE Counts: 600 Critical Vulns, Zero Exploitable
• (00:25:42) - Prioritizing Remediation by Business Impact, Not Severity Score
• (00:26:30) - Wrap-Up and Part 2 Preview: Business Impact Analysis

Links And Resources:

• Wil Klusovsky on LinkedIn
• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

Is the Purdue Model outdated, or simply misunderstood? In this episode, Dino sits down with Ken Kully (Rockwell Automation) for a candid, practitioner-level conversation about what the Purdue Model still gets right.

They discuss where it falls short in modern environments, and why “IT/OT convergence” remains more of a people-and-process challenge than a technology problem.

They break down the reality on the plant floor: long-lived legacy systems, inconsistent architectures across sites, limited maintenance windows, and the operational consequences of downtime.

The discussion also tackles the everyday friction points: MFA, shared operator accounts, unmanaged vendor laptops, and remote access “surprises”, and why you can’t improve OT security posture without a trustworthy asset inventory and segmentation that keeps systems “in their lane.”

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Intro + why this Purdue conversation matters now
• (00:01:00) Ken’s background: from process environments to OT cyber delivery readiness
• (00:04:00) The big question: has the Purdue Model outlived its usefulness?
• (00:07:00) Framework vs. strict blueprint: “Purdue enough” in real plants
• (00:09:00) IT/OT convergence: why it’s a people + process problem (not tech)
• (00:12:00) The “silver tsunami” and why security UX fails on the plant floor
• (00:15:30) MFA, shared logins, and why “security gets in the way” still shows up
• (00:18:00) Legacy reality: Windows 98/7 boxes, vendor lock-in, and downtime economics
• (00:21:00) Discovery first: diagrams, configs, and why documentation is always missing
• (00:23:30) Purdue as a map: brokering traffic, one-up/one-down, and the “3.5” DMZ
• (00:26:00) When devices try to “escape the box”: unexpected outbound comms + exposure risk
• (00:28:30) Vendor/OEM access: the unmanaged laptop problem in OT
• (00:32:00) Asset inventory as the unlock: you can’t defend what you don’t know exists
• (00:34:00) Why IT often won’t “crawl the plant,” and what that means operationally
• (00:36:30) Scale problem: 30 plants, 30 realities—standardize globally, execute locally
• (00:38:30) The SI/OEM “third leg”: why trusted integrators are key to sustainable OT security
• (00:40:30) Closing + crossover: continuing the discussion on Ken’s OT After Hours podcast

Links And Resources:

• Kenneth Kully on LinkedIn
• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

Dino and Jim break down a major shift in the cyber threat landscape: federal agencies obtaining legal authority to enter private networks to hunt down state-sponsored malware, and what that signals for industrial organizations.

They discuss why critical infrastructure and supply chains are prime targets, how “soft targets” in OT and building automation get exploited, and why many companies still lack visibility into what’s happening on the plant floor.

The conversation zooms in on real-world exposure points, especially unmanaged vendor remote access and end-of-life equipment, and closes with practical themes for leadership.

1. Stop assuming “IT has it covered”
2. Define measurable OT security outcomes
3. Start taking steps that make disruption harder and detection faster.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Why identity, trust, and vendor access are breaking down in modern plants
• (00:01:00) The episode’s trigger: government-led operations to remove malware from private networks
• (00:03:00) “Machete scanning” and why IT-style tactics can disrupt OT operations
• (00:05:00) The real target set: critical infrastructure, supply chains, and smaller utilities with limited resources
• (00:08:00) Collateral damage and how cyber “weapons” trickle down to criminal ransomware
• (00:13:00) Why OT is still a soft target: visibility gaps, unpatched systems, and weak segmentation
• (00:14:00) Remote access everywhere: OEM/SI pathways, unknown identities, and lack of governance
• (00:20:00) The logging gap: what IT sees vs. what OT can’t see (and why that matters for incident response)
• (00:24:00) Building automation and facilities systems as weak links attackers love
• (00:26:00) Executive accountability: what boards should be measuring after breaches (and why progress stalls)

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

A real-world case study shows how a single phishing email led to credential and MFA compromise, creating an urgent question for any industrial organization: Did the attacker reach the OT environment?

Dino and Jim walk through how OT visibility, secure remote access controls, and continuous monitoring enabled rapid validation of what happened. They were able to prove the breach did not impact control systems and avoid an expensive, safety-driven shutdown of a continuous manufacturing process.

The episode connects technical controls to executive outcomes, including resilience, duty of care, and the financial reality that “not knowing” can be as costly as an actual compromise.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Why continuous manufacturing makes “abundance of caution” shutdowns so costly
• (00:01:00) What “OT continuous monitoring” means and why it matters in real incidents
• (00:03:00) Safety and connected environments: why “it can go boom” changes the stakes
• (00:05:00) Baselines: defining “normal” so abnormal behavior is actionable
• (00:07:00) Incident story: phishing email leads to credential and MFA compromise
• (00:09:00) What the team validated: tracing access and confirming OT was not impacted
• (00:10:00) Lessons from Colonial Pipeline: inability to validate can force shutdowns
• (00:11:00) OT reality check: Windows assets, HMIs, historians, and engineering workstations
• (00:13:00) Secure OT remote access: why VPN-only access is not sufficient
• (00:16:00) The payoff: avoided downtime, avoided product loss, and avoided disruption
• (00:19:00) Executive view: duty of care, liability, compliance, and protecting enterprise value
• (00:23:00) The “air gap” myth and why defense-in-depth is the only practical path

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

In this episode, Dino and LuRae address why system integrators, OEMs, and ecosystem partners are often a manufacturer’s most underused cybersecurity resource.

Dino explains why many IT leaders lack real visibility into the plant floor, what it takes to operationalize OT security beyond “checking the box,” and why asset inventory is the first practical step toward protecting control systems.

The conversation also covers the realities of remote access after COVID, the need for governance measures such as change control and auditing, and why manufacturers should build real partner relationships rather than purely transactional vendor engagements.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) OT security requires time inside the plant, not an “ivory tower” view
• (00:01:00) Introducing Dino and the topic: partners as a cybersecurity asset
• (00:02:00) Why OT assets get excluded from cybersecurity strategy
• (00:03:00) The real opportunity: system integrators and OEMs already in the plant
• (00:05:00) Getting started: identify who’s working in each facility
• (00:08:00) Step one: accurate OT asset inventory and visibility
• (00:10:00) Remote access: detect, audit, and control what partners are doing
• (00:12:00) “Compliance” vs. operational reality on the plant floor
• (00:16:00) Resourcing reality: why most teams cannot self-perform OT security
• (00:20:00) Final advice: budget, ROI of downtime, and act before the incident

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

Most cybersecurity teams treat patching like a universal fix. In manufacturing, that assumption can take down a production line, trigger a safety event, or void the warranty on a $2 million piece of equipment.

In this episode, Dino Busalachi and Craig Duckworth break down why patching in operational technology environments is a fundamentally different problem than patching enterprise IT — and why closing that gap requires more than just pushing an update.

The bottom line: A firewall is not a patching strategy. Neither is hoping your systems are isolated. Organizations that get this right use risk-based prioritization, lab testing, virtual patching, and real collaboration between IT and OT teams.

If you are responsible for a plant floor — or for the people who are — this conversation is for you.

🎙️ Industrial Cybersecurity Insider is where C-suite leaders, plant managers, engineers, and security teams come to close the gap between IT and OT.

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Why assessing OT cybersecurity posture and asset visibility is hard
• (00:01:00) IT patches constantly, OT rarely does, and why that gap matters
• (00:03:00) Downtime costs: a broken patch in OT can stop the entire plant
• (00:05:00) OEM “don’t touch it” policies and warranty pressure
• (00:08:00) M&A due diligence: buying plants without knowing the cyber condition
• (00:09:00) CrowdStrike outage example and why agent-based tools are risky in OT
• (00:10:00) Virtual patching: protecting PLCs and legacy assets you cannot patch
• (00:14:00) Vendor guidance, upgrade rewrites, and “acceptable risk” decisions
• (00:17:00) Hidden exposure: guest Wi‑Fi, tablets, remote access, and “air gaps”
• (00:20:00) Best practices: inventory, continuous monitoring, vulnerability metrics, and cross-team alignment

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!

Dino and Craig break down what they are seeing in real industrial environments as companies begin the OT cybersecurity journey. They outline why most organizations are still in an “unaware to awareness” phase, what creates the “oh wow” moment after the first pilot, and why ownership and execution often falls to plant-floor teams and their OEM and integrator partners.

The conversation covers the limits of surface-level visibility, why accurate asset inventory and remote access control are foundational, and how practical constraints like flat networks, legacy switches, warranty concerns, and limited human capital can stall progress.

They also share cautionary examples of IT-first security tooling causing operational impact, and they close with a clear message: think globally, act locally, and build a defensible OT program that matches how plants actually run.

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Why OT vulnerabilities and remote access are the real “kicker”
• (00:01:00) The market reality: 60% unaware, 30% starting, 10% operationalized
• (00:03:00) Who owns remediation: IT vs OT and the plant-floor accountability gap
• (00:05:00) Why “visibility” often stops at Purdue Level 3 and misses Level 2 assets
• (00:07:00) OEMs, integrators, and why support models matter in OT cybersecurity
• (00:09:00) Flat networks, north-south traffic, and why you still miss panel-level devices
• (00:11:00) The human capital problem and why outsourcing is often unavoidable
• (00:18:00) A real-world warning: EDR in ICS can create massive operational cost
• (00:20:00) Safety, quality, and cybersecurity: the three things leaders will fund
• (00:24:00) Change management failures and why monitoring PLC edits matters

Links And Resources:

• Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
• Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
• Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
• BW Design Group Cybersecurity
• Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
• Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!