The theme of S4x13 was NOW! The first video released is my 10-minute introduction to the conference theme and the mission that ICS security experts must stop being SCADA Apologists.
Rather than try to repeat the whole presentation in text, just watch the short video. I’m sure you will remember many times when you have been a SCADA Apologist — we all have, and it has to stop.
The ICS security experts have so consistently been SCADA Apologists that decision makers in most organizations are convinced that having a secure critical infrastructure ICS is not possible. Why would they think anything else when government organizations, asset owner experts, vendor experts and consultants are telling them that insecure by design and fragile systems will be running the critical infrastructure for decades more and the best they can do is put up layers and layers of compensating controls.
This is not a difficult technical problem. It is a question of will and money. And after explaining how insecure and fragile ICS is, and how big an impact a cyber attack could have on a region, ICS security experts must complete the thought by saying “and these critical infrastructure ICS must be upgraded or replaced now!”