Reducing OT Incident Impact Inflation

Reducing OT Incident Impact Inflation

Where does the media get the information and quotes that turn a couple of residential swimming pools of water spilling out of a water tank (Muleshoe) into a major story and congressional hearing … from us, the OT security community. Since we are part of the...
S4x26 Theme Keynote: Connect

S4x26 Theme Keynote: Connect

Below is what I intended to say on stage. It always varies a little bit live. The video will be out next week. Each S4 Conference has a single word theme. This year’s theme is Connect. Connections are exciting, unpredictable, scary, they bring opportunity, and...

Week 8: Celebrate And Prepare For S4x26

Congratulations. You’ve completed the OT Security Weekly Plan. If you are like most people, some weeks were a lot more helpful than others. Some weeks easier than others. There might have even been some weeks where you said, Dale is just wrong about this. All this is...

Week 6: Your Top 5 Critical OT Security Controls

If you take one thing from this book, my hope is it leads you to focus on OT cyber risk management rather than slavishly trying to implement and maintain a long list of good practice OT security controls (cyber hygiene). SANS and many others, including me, have put...

Week 5: Create And Track Leading Indicators

Warning: This is the most difficult task in this book for most people. OT cyber incidents and their consequences are lagging indicators. The bad event that caused the impact has already happened. While it is important to capture and present the information you...
First Nozomi, Now Armis

First Nozomi, Now Armis

2025 saw two of the four top tier OT detection + asset inventory vendors get acquired. First Mitsubishi Electronics acquired Nozomi Networks at a valuation of $950M (read my analysis of the Nozomi acquisition). Then last month ServiceNow announced they will be...
25 Years, 3 Lessons

25 Years, 3 Lessons

I’m finishing my 25th year focused on OT security (called SCADA security when I started, then ICS security, and now OT security). So many failures, successes, changed analysis, and lessons learned over that time. Here are 3 lessons that I wish hadn’t taken...

Week 3: Develop An OT Cyber Asset Inventory Plan

Creating an OT cyber asset inventory is not a one week task, and it may not be the right thing for you to do at this time. This week’s task is to determine what OT cyber asset inventory you are committed to achieving and maintaining over the next year, and, at a high...