Andrew Ginter’s Top 3 Podcast Episodes of 2024
As 2024 winds down, kick back and enjoy some of Andrew Ginter's best podcast picks
Over the past 12 months, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to co-host the Industrial Security Podcast. When I started the podcast 5-ish years ago, bluntly, I did not know if there was enough industrial security content in the world for more than a year or two of episodes. It turns out the OT security space is much broader and deeper than I knew, and I’ve both learned something in every episode and become aware of how much more that I don’t know that every one of my guests do know and give us a few insights based on that knowledge in every episode.
Choosing three from this year’s episodes was hard, but here are three that stood out for me. If you ask me for a theme for these episodes, I’d have to say all three provide insights into high-consequence attacks, risk blind spots, and of course defenses against these attacks. This is all consistent with the perspective of the Cyber-Informed Engineering initiative and with the themes I explore in my latest book, Engineering-Grade OT Security: A Manager’s Guide.
I hope you enjoy listening to these podcasts as much as I enjoyed the interviews and discussions. And stay tuned, are working on many more guests and discussions in 2025!
My Top Three Episodes of 2024:
Episode #134: Insights into Nation State Threats with Joseph Price
In this episode, Joseph Price nation-state threats and attacks. Nation states are often held up as “bogeymen,” able to do anything to anyone for reasons that are opaque to mere mortals. Joseph peels back a couple layers for us, explaining how to interpret the data is available in the public domain. He walks us through what to expect in terms of attack capabilities, how the world’s superpowers routinely test each other’s defenses, responses and capabilities in both physical and cyber domains, and looks at what this means for both small and large infrastructure sites and defensive programs.
Episode #123: Tractors to Table Industrial Security in the Industry of Human Consumables with Marc Sachs
In this episode, Marc Sachs, Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer at the Center for internet Security, Chief Security Officer for Pattern Computer, and a former White House National Security Council Presidential Appointee, takes a deep dive into the cybersecurity challenges facing the food production industry.
He examines the industry’s growing reliance on automation, from farmers leveraging GPS, drones and self-driving equipment to large-scale food production facilities dependent on interconnected systems. While these advancements have dramatically improved efficiency and productivity, automation has also created important new vulnerabilities. Marc walks us through real-world examples of cyber threats targeting this critical industry, the potential consequences of a future attacks, and practical measures that organizations can take to bolster their defenses.
This episode provides an eye-opening look at how completely automated the high end of agriculture and food production has become, and how this is a problem as more and more operations deploy this kind of automation.
Episode #131: Hitting Tens of Thousands of Vehicles At Once with Matt MacKinnon
In this episode, Matt MacKinnon, Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Upstream Security, looks at a cybersecurity niche in the automotive industry that I did not know existed: protecting the cloud systems that vehicle manufacturers rely on to manage and interact with the vehicles they produce. From passenger cars to 18-wheelers and massive mining equipment, connected vehicles enable everything from diagnostics and updates to real-time remote control.
Matt explains how digital transformation and the pervasive use of cloud systems in automotive and heavy equipment industries has introduced new attack opportunities, with potential consequences ranging from unauthorized manipulation of vehicular systems, data breaches, and potential threats to safe and reliable operations.
How to manage these risks and protect cloud systems connected to vehicles? Matt walks us through protective technology and how it works – technology I did not know existed.
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