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I recently watched an interesting documentary called Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War on Netflix. Great watch – I’d highly recommend it. Essentially it positioned nearly every prominent geo-political event since World War II as fallout from the U.S. dropping the nuclear bomb on Japan to end World War II.

Similarly, we can look at a number of recent, major cybersecurity events that have their origins in attacks on critical infrastructure. Whether you want to go all the way back to Stuxnet, or more recent developments like Colonial Pipeline, hackers realized that the control systems utilized in these environments mirror those used by manufacturers like Boeing, Clorox, Johnson Controls and many others who have been recent victims of high-profile hacks.

Joining me to discuss these dynamics is Bill Moore, the founder and CEO of XONA Systems, a leading provider of secure access solutions. Watch/listen as he dives into:

• The challenges of updating and securing the legacy tech found throughout manufacturing and critical infrastructure.
• Getting past the 'set it and forget it' mindset of industrial cybersecurity.
• Strategies for implementing updates and patches without slowing operations or opening new doors to hackers.
• Ways to improve funding processes to ensure security needs are met and keep pace with an evolving threat landscape.
• How the more distributed dynamic of OT technology needs to be understood in developing new strategies and implementing new tools.
• Lessons learned from Colonial Pipeline.
• Ways to optimize regulatory efforts.
• Why every industrial organization needs a dedicated Director of OT Security.

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 I was a kid, we always looked forward to my dad’s work picnic. He was a tool and dye maker for a leading caster manufacturer that would rent out a local park, make a ton of food and put on various games and activities for the families. One of the highlights of this day was a softball game pitting the office versus the shop.

The good-natured shots that were fired across the dugouts of this summer classic reminds me of the challenges we see in industrial cybersecurity when it comes to bringing OT and IT teams together. While great strides have been made and numerous lessons learned on why these groups need to sync up, the reality is that we still have a long way to go. 

Over the last couple of months we’ve had some interesting takes on how to realize this need, so let’s revisit the following thoughts on the IT-OT working relationship from:

• Kris Lovejoy, Global Security and Resilience Leader at Kyndryl.
• John Cusimano, VP of OT Security at Armexa.
• Josh Williams, Strategic Account Manager at IriusRisk.
• Rod Locke, director of project management at Fortinet. 

Our guests have also weighed in on some of the more challenging dynamics of improving the IT-OT relationship. These have included:

• Brian Deken, Commercial Manager of Cybersecurity Services at Rockwell Automation.
• Riley Groves, an engineer from Auvesy-MDT.
• Theo Zafirakos, Cyber Risk and Information Security Expert at Fortra.

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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An ethical cyber researcher breaks down the 'tsunami of exposed data' he continues to uncover.

When it comes to solving industrial cybersecurity's biggest challenges, I think we have to continue to ask questions that simultaneously tackle basic blocking and tackling concerns, as well as those that lead to bad news. Both prevent us from putting our heads in the sand in trying to ignore the shortcomings of our current strategies, and I’d argue that a great deal of positive outcomes couldn’t be realized without repeatedly asking questions and not being afraid of the potential findings. 

I also think our guest for this episode would agree. It’s our pleasure to welcome Jeremiah Fowler to Security Breach. He’s a leading cybersecurity researcher who has a wealth of knowledge on the industrial threat landscape, and recently uncovered a data vulnerability exposing 769 million personal records and 380,000 email addresses. Left unaddressed, this could have had highly damaging impacts on a global scale.

Watch/listen as Jeremiah shares his thoughts on:

• The need to educate the C-Suite on risk, the real-world costs of cybersecurity shortcomings, and how you can't measure the loss of trust.
• Why the human factor will always be the weakest link.
• How nearly every issue in cybersecurity comes back to visibility.
• The new challenges AI will continue to create.
• The increasing threat stemming from new credential harvesting schemes that clone login pages.
• The unintentional backdoor vulnerabilities created by legacy systems.
• Why he misses the Golden Age of Bug Bounties.
• The value of placing time limits on access to sensitive data.

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 landscape of industrial cybersecurity continues to change and evolve, and demands a vigilant monitoring of the next threat, vulnerability or potential soft spot in our defenses. That’s why we continue to produce Security Breach, and, by the way, continue to be so appreciative of the growth and support we’ve received from each of you.

That said, once in a while it’s good to take a look back at some of the ongoing lessons that we’re learning, especially when the input from our guests offers such an interesting range of responses.

So, let’s hear from a collection of previous guests as they reflect on the challenges and opportunities of more connection points, and how they responded to the question – are we over-connected?

• Joel Burleson-Davis, SVP of Cyber Engineering at Imprivata
• Josh Williams, Strategic Account Manager at IriusRisk
• Roman Arutyunov, Co-founder of Xage Security
• Kris Lovejoy, Global Security and Resilience Leader at Kyndryl
• Roland Cozzolino, CTO/CIO of InsightCyber
• Sharon Brizinov, Director of Research at Claroty’s research arm, Team82

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 IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, nearly 20 percent of the organizations surveyed stated that they have experienced a breach stemming from a compromise in their supply chain, or a vulnerability related to it. The average cost of these breaches was estimated at just under $4.5 million. Their data also found that attacks emanating from the supply chain had a longer lifecycle than average.

The increased costs and complexities of addressing supply chain attacks is not a surprise when you consider that these intrusions not only impact the targeted company, but the logistics, distribution and retail elements that are dragged along on this difficult and painful ride. To help dive into the factors associated with supply chain attacks and other cybersecurity challenges, we welcome Theo Zafirakos, a Cyber Risk and Information Security Expert at Fortra to the show.

Watch/listen as we discuss:

• The three primary soft spots from which supply chain hacks emanate - software, devices and people.
• Why people are the most neglected of the three, and how they can be trained to identify attacks.
• The expanded role AI is playing in email compromises that help fuel supply chain attacks.
• Why IT and OT need to become more aware of each other's requirements and risks.
• The important role cybersecurity plays in ensuring operational reliability.
• The growing need for ransomware response plans, and how a national supply chain hack helped reinforce this need for all enterprises, regardless of size or sector.

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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Due to the rise in attacks on manufacturing and critical infrastructure, and the devasting impacts these attacks have on daily lives around the world, the World Economic Form recently unveiled a report entitled Building a Culture of Cyber Resilience in Manufacturing. 

This initiative not only identified the sector’s primary challenges for developing a culture of cyber resilience, but also formulated three guiding principles for establishing an enduring strategy. They revolve around people, processes and culture.

I was fortunate enough to have one of the key contributors to the creation of these strategies sit down with me for some unique takes on the biggest challenges facing industrial cybersecurity. Watch/listen to my conversation with Kris Lovejoy, Global Security and Resilience Leader at Kyndryl, a leader in cyber resiliency strategies and services, as we discuss:

• How the capital investment process utilized throughout manufacturing could be leaving several key players behind, and the negative impacts this could have on the entire sector.
• Why security is not a tool, but a process.
• The ongoing issues associated with asset inventory and the first steps to take in correcting this issue.
• The Trojan Horse dynamic that smaller enterprises need to embrace in order to improve their security posture.
• How to know if you're the biggest risk or weakest link in a production environment or supply chain.
• Why regulatory efforts focused on cybersecurity could dramatically change the composition of the industrial sector.
• The difference between moving to the cloud and securely moving to cloud platforms.
• How security should be a driver of digital transformation strategies.

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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When looking at industrial cybersecurity, more attention is being paid to how workers are logging in to access critical machinery, software or data. And according to Trustwave Threat Intelligence’s recent Manufacturing Threat Landscape report, 45 percent of attacks experienced by manufacturers stemmed from the bad guys accessing credentials.

Whether by utilizing brute-force tactics, submitting fake support tickets, or purchasing logins on the Dark Web, this seems to prove that hackers would much rather log in than break in. 

The report also cited the rise of Initial Access Brokers, or groups that focus specifically on obtaining and selling log-in data to other hackers. One example cited by Trustwave saw an IAB offering access to a leading steel manufacturer for just over $60,000. Unfortunately, this is not a unique circumstance, which is why we're talking to David Cottingham, president of rf IDEAS to weigh in on the ongoing challenges surrounding secure access throughout the OT environment.

Listen as we discuss:

• The importance of simplifying security processes to keep people engaged with them.
• Why no manufacturer is too small to be a target for credential-based attacks.
• Overcoming the bad behaviors that can result from operations personnel dealing with over 25 passwords.
• Avoiding punitive actions surrounding people-based security vulnerabilities.
• Why dual factor authentication strategies are key to ongoing security developments. 
• Best practices for mobile device use.
• How VPNs, firewalls and password wallets are simultaneously solutions and 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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As we’ve discussed numerous times on Security Breach, terms like change, evolution and constant are more than just buzz terms – they’re a simple reality of working in the industrial OT space.

Whether we’re discussing threat actors from Stuxnet to Lockbit, tactics from social engineering to double-extortion ransomware, or vulnerability sources ranging from weak passwords to embedded secure-by design concerns, the ever-expanding attack surface is a constant reminder of change and the evolving nature of threats. 

In this episode we talk to Michael Haase, and draw on his extensive background and personal experiences as we discuss:

• The on-going balancing act between cost and security priorities.
• Why he considers the need for phishing training, "a massive failure on the part of the technical community."
• How AI is laying the groundwork for attacks that haven't happened yet.
• Why the growing complexity of hackers is actually a positive indicator.
• Automation is the inflection point for cybersecurity - for both sides.
• The shift from worrying about the ability to detect new attacks to focusing on the vulnerabilities being exploited.
• The distinction between learning what needs to be done and actually taking action.

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].

Send us Fan Mail

Over the last nearly 100 episodes of Security Breach we’ve discussed a wide range of strategies for protecting the manufacturing enterprise. But perhaps the most polarizing of these has been Zero Trust. While some unwaveringly champion the cause of this approach, others question the ways in which it is typically deployed.

Perhaps this dichotomy is best represented in Palo Alto and ABI Research’s The State of OT Security report. It found that 93 percent of those surveyed were familiar with Zero Trust, and 87 percent found the approach to be the right fit for protecting OT environments. However, half of those participating in the research also stated that there are practical blockers that prohibit implementation. 

In the end, like most things in the cybersecurity world, the answer lies in striking a balance between restricting access and implementing safeguards against time-consuming processes. In this episode I talk to Roman Arutyunov, Co-founder and SVP of product at Xage Security, about zero trust and a number of other topics, including:

• How cybersecurity needs to be viewed as both a productivity and protection tool.
• Overcoming the "it won't happen to me" mindset.
• The sector's over-reliance on VPNs and firewalls.
• Why manufacturing is missing regulatory guidance, and why that will change in the short-term.
• Improving responses to attacks, including ransomware..
• How AI can play a key role in shrinking the attack surface.
• Avoiding tool implementations that can be an "inverse pyramid of pain."

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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One of the more common obstacles that we discuss here on Security Breach is how increased connectivity has combined with new Industry 4.0 technologies to constantly expand the OT attack surface. In the midst of all this expansion, it’s easy to either overlook cybersecurity concerns, or put too much trust in the embedded security features of the new assets. 

So, while this usually brings up conversations about endpoint security, integration processes and secure-by-design protocols, let’s talk about something that our guest for today’s episode knows and understands all too well … time. 

Industry experts value downtime on the plant floor at about $250k/hour. So, just like predictive maintenance has become part of a facility’s new normal, predictive cybersecurity needs to receive the same priority.

Here to discuss this concept is Riley Groves, an engineer at Auvesy-MDT, a leading providing of ICS and automation solutions. Listen as we also discuss:

• The improving convergence of IT and OT on the plant floor.
• Getting ahead of vulnerabilities.
• The factors driving greater buy-in from the C-suite on cybersecurity investments.
• Why cybersecurity is the Special Teams of the industrial enterprise.
• How legacy systems are providing "function by disfunction" from a security perspective.
• The better ways to use AI.

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].