Planes, Trains, and Tanks

Trains may look like large analog devices, but they are teeming with computers. Communications, monitoring, positive train control, fuel management systems, data recorders, power, and engine control systems all heavily involve digital components. It’s not just locomotives that have become heavily digitized: passenger and freight cars also benefit from many digital sensors and control systems. Because rolling stock runs complicated software and contains many digital interfaces, rail cybersecurity has become an increasingly important topic. In this show, special guest Brian McCord discusses just how embedded digital components are into modern rail cars, what cybersecurity threats exist, and how a researcher goes about discovering cybersecurity issues in an aircraft.

Venture capital is America’s innovation engine. Where venture investors deploy capital has a huge impact on which transformational ideas turn into disruptive products. Ultimately some of these disruptive products turn out to have profound impacts on our lives. It’s no secret that digital technology has been at the root of many such profound impacts over the past century. But this digital landscape invites brave, new frontiers of cybersecurity problems. These frontiers co-evolve with new technologies--from the internet, to smart phones, to internet of things devices, to fleet assets like “planes, trains and tanks.” We can thank venture capitalists and the entrepreneurs they back for many of these new technologies. Unsurprisingly, venture capitalists are also backing cybersecurity companies at a dizzying pace. In this episode, we invite special guests Vardan Gattani and Jim Rutt to discuss why so much venture investment flows into cybersecurity, how investors see the shifting cybersecurity landscape, where they’re excited about bold, new, transformational ideas, and the characteristics that make cybersecurity startups successful.

Even though they may not look like it at first glance, aircraft are crammed full of computers. Communications, navigation, monitoring, flight control, fuel, collision avoidance, flight recorders, weather systems, and management systems are all rooted in digital components. Military aircraft have even more. Because aircraft run complicated software and contain many digital interfaces, aircraft cybersecurity has become an increasingly important topic. In this show, special guest Brian McCord discusses just how embedded digital components are into modern aircraft, what cybersecurity threats exist, and how a researcher goes about discovering cybersecurity issues in an aircraft.

The United States established the Space Force in 2019 as the world’s first and only independent space force. Its mission is to protect US and allied interests in space. Space is an important domain for a wide range of applications, including communications, observation, scientific exploration, and recently tourism. In this episode, special guest Ryan Welch joins us to discuss the mission of this newly formed organization.

Field Engineering is the culmination of the delivery of our ideas to the marketplace in a way that realizes as close to immediate value to the customer as possible and provides a feedback loop to our product, engineering, marketing and sales organizations for improvement. It is the customer facing team of technologists who are "closest to the problems" faced by the customer which enables our company to rapidly deliver world class solutions. In this episode, we welcome special guest Egon Rinderer to discuss what makes a great field engineer, how it’s unique from product engineering, and why many companies find it advantageous to develop field engineering organizations.

Cyberattacks against critical infrastructure can have detrimental impacts on everyday life. The past few months, we’ve seen example after example of cyberattacks causing gas and food shortages as well as transportation service disruptions. CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is a standalone US federal agency established to advance the Department of Homeland Security’s national security mission. It seeks to reduce and eliminate threats to US critical physical and cyber infrastructure. CISA recently confirmed Jen Easterly, a former US Army officer and member of Tailored Access Operations, as its new Director. In this episode, special guests Brian McCord and James Correnti discuss Jen Easterly’s Confirmation, CISA’s mission, and a new catalog of Bad Practices that the Agency is actively developing

On this podcast, we’ve talked about the need to secure legacy systems from attackers that use today’s technology. But what about securing today’s systems in preparation for attackers using technologies of the future? In this episode, special guests Ellie Daw and Ben McCarty discuss one of those emerging technologies: quantum computers, and specifically their utility for securing and encrypting data.

Maintenance departments are not often known as the first place to implement new technologies, but as more companies emerge to aid in their processes, companies have to learn to meet these teams where they are and guide them through a digital transformation. How can companies put themselves in the shoes of those they try to serve with their technology? In this episode, we invite Rebeccah Wrady to discuss the four stages of a maintenance organization she has observed in both the automotive and rail industries and how to meet these teams where they are and bring them into a new era of maintenance.

Autonomous fleets are quickly becoming the new topic of conversation among the trucking, rail, and aviation industries. However, with optimistic promises of safety and efficiency improvements comes caution regarding cybersecurity and legal risks. How will autonomous trucking impact the freight rail industry, or vice versa? Will unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) become the future of aviation autonomy? In this episode, we invite special guest, Mike Weigand, to discuss these benefits and risks of what the autonomous future has in store for fleet assets.