Rockwell Automation announces new season of executive discussions on industrial cybersecurity

Rockwell Automation, Inc. today announced the release of a new season of its thought leadership video series that deep dives into the ever-evolving world of industrial cybersecurity.

The 11-video season comprises interviews with IT/OT thought leaders and chief information and security officers (CISO) from critical-infrastructure companies, supported by senior specialists and industry advocates from Rockwell Automation.

Covering evolving cyber threats and the challenges of addressing stringent legislation, including NIS2, the series also uncovers the variety of opportunities and cost/time/efficiency savings delivered by robust holistic cybersecurity programs.

Important viewing for anyone involved in digital transformation projects and IT/OT convergence, the interviews with security executives include:

• The importance of teamwork (IT + OT), cultural buy-in, and flexible strategies, with input from a business information security officer at a leading global energy company.
• Insight into how to get board-level support for an OT cybersecurity program from the view of a CISO of a major energy supply firm.
• NIS2 legislation and compliance, as seen through the eyes of an OT security leader from a leading national fuel supply company.
• Essential strategies, best practices, and equipment evaluation, as suggested by a CISO from another European global energy company.

Dragos Inc., a global leader in cybersecurity for OT environments, and a Rockwell Automation partner, features prominently in the series:

• Ben Miller, chief information security officer, shares his thoughts on combating the constant threat of OT cybersecurity attacks with insights from the company's annual OT Cybersecurity Year in Review report.
• Phil Tonkin, field chief technology officer, Dragos, and John Speakman, cybersecurity services team lead, EMEA north region for Rockwell Automation, team up to discuss securing industrial operations.

"As industrial organizations become more connected than ever, they face a range of threats, from increasingly sophisticated state actors, to hacktivists, to criminal groups launching ransomware attacks," Miller said. "The good news is that there are key controls that organizations can prioritize to be more secure against OT cyber threats, including monitoring to gain visibility into the assets, vulnerabilities, and threats in their environment." 

Discussions with Rockwell Automation specialists include:

• Maria Else, senior global product manager, cybersecurity, and Andreu Cuartiella, lifecycle services commercial manager EMEA, look at the IT/OT equation and how departments need to break down walls and work together to audit, plan, and evolve their cybersecurity posture.
• David Maine-Reade, program manager, standards & regulations, and Manju Venugopal, senior engineering manager, product security, look at what David describes as a "tsunami of regulations" and how a good foundation is the key to addressing complexity and variety.
• Meghna Subramani, EMEA commercial product manager, and Ian Murgatroyd, EMEA product manager, safety components, discuss the close links between safety and security, and how new regulations are evolving to cover both.
• Cesar Delgado Villalba, from Rockwell Automation cybersecurity services, explains the different roles that OT and IT undertake, how the threat landscape is actually very similar, and how the outcomes are closely linked, too.
• Helena Taribó Gómez, global security operations center (SOC) manager, and Sergio Sánchez Palma, cybersecurity team leader, explain why visibility is key for both detection and prevention, while also delivering an audit trail for compliance. She ends with the sage advice that the cost of any cyber incident often far outweighs the cost of the proactive preventative measures.

"Cybersecurity is a continually moving target," explains Partha Seshadri, regional VP, lifecycle services, EMEA from Rockwell Automation, "not just in terms of new exploits and threat vectors, but also the ever-changing standards and legislation that prescribe preventative, proactive, and reactive procedures. Thanks to our dedicated cybersecurity teams, PartnerNetwork™ ecosystem, and industry-proven hardware and software platforms, we can offer fully optimized solutions for IT/OT convergence and local, national, and global digitalization campaigns across multiple industries and a broad variety of critical-infrastructure applications."

To find out if your company is ready to handle a cyberattack, you can complete our Cybersecurity Preparedness Assessment.