Industrial Cybersecurity Insider

Safety starts with a goal. So should cybersecurity.
Craig Duckworth sits down with Shankar Somasundaram, CEO of Asimily and former head of Symantec's IoT business, to explain why plant floor cybersecurity is a safety issue, not an IT expense. They cover why industrial cybersecurity programs stall after the tool is purchased, how to start with a goal instead of a solution, and why fixing the biggest risks first beats trying to secure everything at once.
The conversation also covers network segmentation mistakes, AI as both a helper and a new threat to critical infrastructure, protecting legacy OT and IoT equipment without disrupting production, watching traffic inside the plant, what drives cybersecurity maturity, and what OT security market consolidation means for manufacturers.
Shankar's three takeaways for your next budget cycle:
Cyber risk is safety risk
Start with the goal
Visibility and fixing the problem are one program, not two

Chapters:
(00:00:00) Cybersecurity is patient safety, operational safety, plant safety
(00:00:45) Meet Shankar and the four pillars behind Asimily
(00:03:50) Why OT security projects stall after the tool is purchased
(00:06:20) Start with a goal, not a solution
(00:09:20) Exposure management and the segmentation myths that slow teams down
(00:11:45) AI as enabler and attacker inside critical infrastructure
(00:15:40) Collecting data on legacy OT and IoT without disrupting operations
(00:18:20) North south, east west, and the flow data most teams skip
(00:20:00) Does maturity come from size, budget, or management
(00:24:20) Consolidation in the OT market and the advice Shankar leaves behind

Links And Resources:
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Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
BW Design Group Cybersecurity
Shankar Somasundaram on LinkedIn
Asimily
Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

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This highlight episode pulls the sharpest moments from past conversations into one continuous argument about why industrial cyber risk keeps escalating and why so many programs stall before they start.
Craig Duckworth and Dino Busalachi open with a number that should stop any executive team cold: one manufacturer lost roughly $500 million in valuation inside 60 hours, and that loss had nothing to do with lost production.
From there the conversation gets practical. They explain why a plant floor security program cannot be run entirely from the data center, why asset inventory and communication flow mapping must come before any discussion of segmentation, and what distinguishes warranted traffic from unwarranted traffic within a control system environment.
Jim Cook joins to break down the difference between a flat network and what the team calls a super flat network, where drives, flow meters, robots, and business systems all share the same space. Together, they make the case that zero trust in operational technology must be built from the bottom of the stack upward, using what they describe as the bucket approach, rather than layered over the plant with enterprise tooling that nobody on site knows how to operate.
The episode closes on ownership: who is accountable, who the plant manager actually trusts, and why the people who design and build the machines belong in the room from day one. If you are responsible for production uptime and for protecting the assets that create it, this one is a fast tour of the decisions that matter most.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) A $500 Million Valuation Loss In 60 Hours
(00:01:00) Why Industrial Cyber Risk Is More Urgent Right Now
(00:03:00) Why IT Cannot Secure The Plant Floor Alone
(00:05:00) Asset Inventory And Communication Flows Come First
(00:07:00) Building A Defensible Architecture In OT Environments
(00:09:00) Flat Networks Versus Super Flat Networks
(00:11:00) The Bucket Approach To Segmentation
(00:14:00) Vetting A Cybersecurity Partner The Right Way
(00:16:00) Tabletop Exercises With The Executive Team
(00:19:00) Who Actually Owns Industrial Cybersecurity

Links And Resources:
Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
BW Design Group Cybersecurity
Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

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Most plants are running production on infrastructure nobody wants to touch. Somebody installed it years ago, that person is long gone, and the standing rule is to leave it alone so it keeps working.
In this episode, Dino sits down with Jeff Slapp, cofounder, CTO and head of produduct development at SteelDome, to talk about what it would take to change that.
Jeff has spent almost 30 years building and running data centers, starting with VMware back in 1998, and he admits that until recently he couldn't have properly defined OT, even though control systems, safety systems, and fire suppression were around him the entire time.
They dig into why so many manufacturers still have hundreds of standalone HMIs, why a capital project is the real moment to think about security, and why IT/OT convergence rarely shows up in practice the way everyone talks about it. Jeff also walks through what it means to stand up a full production platform, complete with secure remote access, in about 90 seconds instead of nine months.
They close on the reality that this is a people problem more than a technology problem, and why AI on the plant floor will only be as good as the foundation it runs on.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) If technology is not saving time, money, or mistakes, what is the point?
(00:01:12) Jeff Slapp's 30-year journey from early VMware to co-founding SteelDome
(00:04:35) What a universal infrastructure operating system means for the plant
(00:06:24) An IT veteran admits OT was around him the whole time, and he never saw it
(00:10:03) Legacy plants, standalone HMIs, and the "nobody touches it" problem
(00:13:22) Kasm and secure application delivery: the missing third layer
(00:18:04) Time to value: a full production platform in 90 seconds, not nine months
(00:21:56) Democratizing infrastructure and where AI meets industrial security
(00:25:14) Secure by design: build cybersecurity into the capital project
(00:28:38) Asset inventory gaps, the IT/OT convergence myth, and closing thoughts

Links And Resources:
SteelDome Website
Jeffrey Slapp on LinkedIn
Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
BW Design Group Cybersecurity
Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

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Manufacturing cybersecurity can't succeed when IT acts as the enforcer and OT sees security as an obstacle to production.
CyberHoot founder Craig Taylor joins Dino Busalachi to explain why punishment-based awareness programs create resistance, how positive reinforcement can turn employees into an active layer of defense, and why cyber preparedness belongs beside safety, quality, uptime, and availability as a core plant metric.
They discuss the overlooked role of system integrators and machine builders, the danger of unmanaged laptops and remote access, the false comfort ofair-gappedd systems, and the growing risk that AI poses to aging industrial technology.
Craig also shares a simple framework called PAR, which means pause, assess, and report, and makes the case for short, practical training that rewards people for speaking up before a mistake becomes a shutdown.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Why IT should empower OT
(00:05:18) Connecting cyber awareness to plant uptime
(00:10:04) The missing role of system integrators
(00:15:07) Building a culture that rewards reporting
(00:20:01) Legacy equipment, limited resources, and better incentives
(00:24:06) Vulnerable plants and the air gap myth
(00:29:07) Treating cybersecurity like plant safety
(00:34:00) The personal value of cyber literacy

Links And Resources:
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Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
BW Design Group Cybersecurity
Craig Taylor on LinkedIn
For 20% Off CyberHoot 1st Year, mention Industrial Cybersecurity Insider
Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

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Detection got fast, but remediation didn't. And that gap is exactly where attackers live.
Manufacturers have spent the last decade building visibility into their plants: sensors, dashboards, alerts flying into every SOC. But knowing about a threat and fixing it are two different problems, and most industrial teams are still solving the second one at human speed. A ticket gets opened. A maintenance window gets scheduled. Three departments get looped in. Meanwhile, the attacker isn't waiting for anyone's approval.
In this episode, Craig Duckworth talks with Tal Kollender, founder and CEO of Remedio, about what's actually keeping industrial environments exposed: misconfigurations left untouched for months, unnecessary services quietly giving attackers a path to move laterally, and aging systems nobody wants to be the one to touch. Tal makes the case that patching alone will never close this gap and explains why safe automated remediation is becoming essential as AI accelerates attacks faster than most security teams can keep up.
They also dig into the reality of OT: uptime and safety come first, IT security tools often can't reach the controls layer, and the wrong change can cause real damage on the plant floor. It's a candid look at what it takes to align security and operations, and why building that trust is the real first step toward proactive protection instead of reactive cleanup.
If you're responsible for securing a plant floor, a fleet of facilities, or the budget behind either one, this conversation gives you a clear, practical way to think about closing the gap between seeing a threat and actually stopping one.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Why machine speed detection needs machine speed remediation
(00:01:00) Tal’s path from teenage hacker to cybersecurity founder
(00:06:00) Misconfigurations and lateral movement in industrial environments
(00:11:00) Why patching and configuration changes are difficult in OT
(00:15:00) Moving from reactive detection to proactive hardening
(00:17:00) Aligning people, process, and technology
(00:22:00) AI adoption, unmanaged risk, and doing more with less
(00:25:00) Bridging the IT and OT divide without disrupting operations
(00:29:00) The first practical step toward proactive industrial security

Links And Resources:
Want to Sponsor an episode or be a Guest? Reach out here.
Industrial Cybersecurity Insider on LinkedIn
Cybersecurity & Digital Safety on LinkedIn
BW Design Group Cybersecurity
Tal Kollender on LinkedIn
Dino Busalachi on LinkedIn
Craig Duckworth on LinkedIn

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Industrial Cybersecurity Insider? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube to leave us a review!