Security Breach

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One of the goals of the show is to help you better understand all the threats facing your OT assets, your data and your people. In order to do that, we work to identify those individuals with a feel and in-depth understanding of these threats and the evolving network of threat actors.

And I can’t think of anyone better to break down the hacker landscape than an individual whose research has led to being followed by well-known data breachers on social media and considered persona-non-grata in countries housing many of the most notorious state-sponsored hacking groups in the world. 

It’s my pleasure to welcome Jeremiah Fowler back to Security Breach. You might remember that we originally spoke to him regarding a huge ERP data vulnerability last summer.  

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
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To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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When we talk about the threat landscape for the industrial sector, the eye-catching, headline-grabbing hacking groups with nefarious names typically lead the list of concerns. And while understanding their well-publicized exploits are important, what is often overlooked are all the little things these groups were able to do before dropping malware, shutting down networks, extorting ransoms, and stealing data.

This is where taking the time to address those insecure connection points, update login credentials or patch zero and one-day vulnerabilities continue to be essential in the fight to safeguard operational technology and the industrial control system. But, the reasons these problems remain is that the solution is never as simple as it sounds. So, hopefully our collection of experts for this episode can help show you the way.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
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To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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While we’re still in the infancy of 2025, the New Year has proven to have no issues in welcoming in a number of pre-existing challenges – whether we’re talking about cybersecurity or … other social topics.

So, in continuing this trend, we tapped into a unique collection of voices to discuss a topic that has, and will continue to be, vital to industrial cybersecurity efforts – Artificial Intelligence. 

First, we’ll hear from Mandiant’s Paul Shaver as he discusses the legacy dynamics of industrial cybersecurity, including ongoing obstacles associated with inventory, visibility and segmentation strategies – and the impact AI could have on all of them. 

Then we’ll transition to HackerOne’s Will Kapcio for his take on AI and the ongoing evolution of cybersecurity tools. 

We’ll wrap up with instructor and the author of the Hack is Back as he discusses what drove his desire to write the book, the impact AI is having on the next generation of cybersecurity specialists, and the evolving vulnerabilities they can expect to face.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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The continued evolution of the CyberAv3ngers hacking group and its IIoT-focused malware.

We talk a lot about change on Security Breach. Some of it’s good and obviously some of it makes us want to tear our hair out. Well, this episode, surprisingly, should go easy on the scalp, even though it will focus on the IOCONTROL malware strand recently detected by Noam Moshe and Claroty’s Team82. 

The malware is described as a custom-built IoT/OT strand created by the Iran-based hacktivist group, the CyberAv3ngers. The malware targeted OT/IoT devices in Israel and the U.S. Moshe’s team detected the malware being used to attack IoT and SCADA/OT devices of various types including IP cameras, routers, PLCs, HMIs and firewalls. 

Typically, this is the part of the story that takes us down a dark and frustrating road, but as you’ll hear, that’s not necessarily the case this time.

For more information on Team82’s findings on IOCONTROL, click here.

Also, just a bit of housekeeping – we’re switching the frequency of Security Breach from weekly to bi-weekly. This change will allow me to spend more time on each episode, which will translate to greater depth and expanded coverage on all the pressing topics of industrial cybersecurity. 

And remember, this is your podcast – let me know your thoughts and feelings on the change and anything else you’d like to see on the show.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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Winston Churchill famously stated that, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” 

His concerns about applying lessons learned to post WWII foreign policy initiatives rings just as true in the current cybersecurity climate. So, in an effort to ensure we repeat as few of 2024’s mistakes in 2025, we’re going to take a look at some of the industrial sector’s biggest exploits, and offer solutions and strategies in our ever-raging combat with the Black Hats. Watch/listen as we cover:

• A unique supply chain hack that came up during our conversation with Theo Zafirakos, a Cyber Risk and Information Security Expert at Fortra.
• The fall of 2024 brought security compromises to the front door of a number of prominent industrial enterprises, including Halliburton.
• In early August millions were impacted when National Public Data, a major data broker that performs background checks, reported that 2.9 billion personal records from over a million individuals in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada were accessed.
• Ford Motor Company was also a target, with a data breach that saw hacking groups steal 44,000 records containing personal and product information.
• Anna Wells, executive editor of Manufacturing.net and Manufacturing Business Technology, brought us coverage of a hack that has crippled a global beverage maker.
• We close out with a story from early this year describing how some of the basic tools found throughout a manufacturing plant can become pathways for the innovative hacker.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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As we begin to close out 2024 and look ahead to 2025, I couldn’t resist the urge to revisit some of my favorite guests from the last couple of months.

While I’m grateful for everyone we’ve had on the show, and all the support we continue to receive from the industrial cybersecurity community, I felt these comments were worth another listen, with special focus being given to a handful of the most critical issues confronting our OT environments. 

First, we hear from Jon Taylor (1:16) at Versa, as he discusses a unique approach to patching and secure-by-design strategies that involve the development embedded micro-segmentation approaches. 

Next, we’ll hear from Cloud Range’s Tom Marsland (11:18)  as he discusses the continued challenges presented by data silos, and innovative ways to address the shortage of cybersecurity specialists. 

Then we’ll turn to Baker Tilly’s Jeff Krull (19:42) as he reports on ransomware gangs and their combination of new and old tactics. 

And we’ll finish up with cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler (29:40) as he discusses some of the ongoing challenges about addressing persistent vulnerabilities.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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According to Fortinet’s 2024 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report, 43 percent of those surveyed reported a loss of business critical data or intellectual property so far in 2024– a number this is up nearly 10 percent from last year. 

And we all know what happens with this hijacked data. 

Per the World Economic Forum’s May 2024 white paper, the number of ransomware attacks on industrial infrastructure doubled in 2023, boosting ransomware to the leading concern for manufacturers, with 40 percent citing it as their top issue. While that may not surprise you, this might - due to the many challenges we’ve discussed here on Security Breach, the industrial sector now accounts for 71 percent of all ransomware attacks. 

Our data is valuable and the hackers know it.

To offer some perspective on protecting this data, we sat down with Karthik Krishnan, CEO of Concentric.ai – a leading provider of data security posture management solutions. Watch/listen as he provides insight on:

• Prioritizing and limiting data access to lessen the blast radius.
• How data, especially customer data, is essentially the "new oil."
• Reversing your mindset to think about "data out" instead of "user in".
• The generative AI advancements that continue to be made, and how they're producing more complex phishing and ransomware attacks.  
• Why it has become easier for hackers to get a foothold on your network.
• The best ways to shore up your weakest security link - employees.
• How it all starts with data discovery and visualization, then prioritization.
• A look at the money involved with remediation and response costs versus proper planning and defense prep.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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Next to artificial intelligence, one of the biggest buzz terms in industrial cybersecurity right now might be SBOM, or software bill of materials. The term generates equal parts concern and eye roll as those entrusted with enterprise defense look to ensure that there are no embedded vulnerabilities amongst the data platforms they are both sourcing and utilizing within their offerings. 

Perhaps most frustrating is having to essentially reverse engineer a number of established products in order to quell security concerns. However, as frustrating as these efforts might be, the growing number of zero day hacks emanating from embedded security vulnerabilities will only continue to grow as we look to embed greater levels of sensor, software and AI-driven functionality. 

In this episode we hear from Marcellus Buchheit, President and CEO of Wibu-Systems USA, a leading provider of security solutions for embedded data and intellectual property. Watch/listen as we discuss:

• How vulnerabilities and risks need to be assessed beyond their expense to focus on updates, reconfigurations and the growing number of OT connection points.
• The need for SOPs that make it easier to assimilate cybersecurity into OT processes.
• Ways to more safely update the growing number of devices on the plant floor.
• Protecting IP and, more specifically, the software coding associated with it.
• The impact AI continues to have on increasing the sophistication of hacking attempts.
• Why all hacks are "highly preventable."
• The role of quantum computing and the steps to take in preparing for "Q Day".

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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We assembled some "nerds from the basement" to cover a key strategy in combatting evolving threats.

Today’s episode is going to take on a little different flavor, as we’re going to show you one particular tool that can impact a number of your security planning, training and discovery strategies.

While table top exercises are nothing new, we’re going to demonstrate how they’re evolving and can be customized according to your needs. We’re going to tackle the human element of cybersecurity by discussing communications strategies, and we’ll offer some insight on getting greater buy-in from throughout the organization, including the C-suite and those controlling the purse strings.

Joining me to discuss these topics and run through a mock exercise will be:

• Navroop Mitter, the CEO and founder of ArmorText. His firm is a leader in secure out-of-band communications.
• Matthew Welling, a partner at Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office, where he works in the firm's Privacy & Cybersecurity Group.
• Timothy Chase, the director of the Manufacturing ISAC, a non-profit organization and leading provider of threat intelligence sharing solutions.

In addition to the table top exercise, we'll discuss:

• Communication challenges before, during and after an attack.
• Response strategies and the evolving dynamic of out-of-band communications.
• The ongoing challenges of addressing the Human Element of cybersecurity.
• The impact of regulatory efforts and how they're playing a bigger role in attack response plans.
• The types of tools or solutions that can play the biggest role in helping organizations respond to attacks more effectively.
• How to control the emotional responses that will undoubtedly emanate from an attack. 

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].

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For this episode, instead of tapping into one source for feedback and updates on industrial cybersecurity, we’re going to look at some of the key insights previous guests have offered on the evolving threat landscape – from increased risks emanating from technological integrations and an uptick in automation, to the more traditional adversaries responsible for next-generation malware, ransomware and phishing schemes. 

To kick things off, we'll hear from:

• Tom Marsland, VP of Technology for Cloud Range as he discusses threats to our infrastructure and state-sponsored groups from China.
• (3:31) He’ll be followed by Cyberhoot’s Craig Taylor as he updates us on phishing schemes.
• (5:45) And then we’ll hear from Jon Taylor at Versa Networks as he talks about strategies bad actors are taking in targeting legacy industrial control systems. 

While many of those topics are already at the top of our list of concerns, there are also a number of evolving threats that warrant an uptick in resources – from both a financial and skillset development perspective. We'll dive into comments from:

• (9:26) Corsha’s Anusha Iyer as she discusses supply chain and dwelling attacks.
• (15:33) Venafi’s Kevin Bocek and his take on embedded software vulnerabilities and how hackers are taking advantage of them.
• (22:18) Baker Tilly’s Jeff Krull offers an update on the evolving complexity of ransomware groups and how they’re targeting the industrial sector.
• (25:20) And finally, let’s wrap up with one of my favorite guests we’ve ever had on Security Breach – researcher Jeremiah Fowler. He’ll offer some insight on a number of unique, embedded threats and some of the lessons he’s learned in tangling with state-sponsored Russian hackers.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].