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When we talk about the challenges presented to those trying to secure the operational landscape of manufacturing, it’s tough to avoid what I’d call the usual suspects - endpoints, connection points, credentials, vulnerabilities, silos and, of course, the impact of artificial intelligence.

And just as there are benefits to discussing these individual aspects, it’s equally important to look at things from a bigger picture in tying them all together. This not only helps us strengthen the chain, but appreciate the significance of reinforcing each of those links.

Perhaps no one has helped tie all of these different players together better than our guest for this episode. Vinod D’Souza leads the manufacturing and industry vertical for Google Cloud’s Office of the CISO. Watch/listen as we discuss:

• Emerging vulnerabilities and response plans.
• Segmentation challenges in the era of constant technological expansion.
• New-age approaches to patching.
• The connected fibers of artificial intelligence and the human factors of cybersecurity.
• Addressing IT and OT silos.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
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To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at jeff@ien.com.

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Back in 2020, the Department of Defense, as it was called at the time, introduced the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). It carried the goal of ensuring companies would be able to protect sensitive information when working on government contracts.

The program requires contractors handling Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) to meet specified cybersecurity standards. Prior to CMMC, DoD contractors were required to self-attest cybersecurity compliance with frameworks set up by the National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST).

Fast forward to September 10 of last year and the Department of War as it’s now known, published an update to the CMMC – basically launching a three-year rollout of elevated cybersecurity requirements.

To help clarify some of the challenges and benefits associated with CMMC, I invited Mark Knight to the program. He's a Partner and Cybersecurity Risk Advisory Leader at Armanino. Listen as he offers:

• Details on what the updated CMMC is all about.
• The challenges of meeting these new compliance standards.
• Embracing the good and bad of government ambiguity in complying with CMMC.
• The impact this certification could have on all manufacturers, regardless of whether or not you’re going after DOW contracts.
• The good and bad of utilizing AI for compliance work.
• How CMMC could spur M&A activity within the cybersecurity tool sector.
• The potential supply chain impacts of companies deciding against pursuing CMMC compliance.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at jeff@ien.com.

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"You don't have to get hacked to understand how you can get hacked."

While I utilize that editorial director title to introduce myself before every episode of Security Breach, it’s not the title that I’ve used the longest, think about the most, or with which I would hope to obtain the most acclaim. Rather, the job descriptor that meets all those requirements is the title of ... Dad.

And perhaps the phrase most commonly utilized during my ongoing tenure in this position is some form of "are you ready?"

Whether it was preparing to push a swing, toss a pitch or start a car, inquiring as to the state of my daughter’s readiness was always the first, most important, and yet most basic action I took.

I was reminded of this when speaking with our guest for this episode, Itzik Kotler, the co-founder and CTO of SafeBreach. While our conversation took us down a number of paths in discussing “shiny objects”, the problems with silos, and the evolution of hackers, he kept coming back to the basics, or what I like to constantly describe as the blocking and tackling of cybersecurity.

At the heart of the focus on the basics is taking steps to be prepared for when, not if, you’re targeted by hackers.

So, if you're ready, listen as we discuss:

• Why every manufacturer is either a target or connected to a bigger target via their supply chain connections.
• The lure of "shiny objects", and how they can distract from the best approaches to cybersecurity upgrades.
• How hackers are exploiting the complexities of your environment.
• Why security strategies need to start with understanding what is truly at risk, and what level of risk is acceptable.
• The growing need for detection engineering.
• Evolving your enterprise in realizing that "hackers don't work in silos."
• The role AI can play in addressing alert fatigue.

As a go-to podcast for our listeners, we want to help you align your brand with our expertise. By sponsoring our podcast, your brand will build trust, and your message will stand out to an audience searching for tools to assist their cybersecurity efforts.
Click Here to Become a Sponsor.

To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast.

If you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at jeff@ien.com.