Operational technology (OT) systems are no longer limited to nation-states; criminal groups and hacktivists now actively target these systems, often driven by financial or ideological motives. Kurt Gaudette, Vice President of Intelligence and Services at Dragos, explains why these systems might not even be the primary targets.…

Many organizations spend valuable security resources fixing vulnerabilities in code that never actually runs—an inefficient and often unnecessary effort. Jeff Williams, CTO and founder at Contrast Security, says that 62% of open source libraries included in software are never even loaded into memory, let alone executed. This means only 38% of libra…

Critical Infrastructure software lacks the strict liability standards found in industries like automotive manufacturing, leading to minimal accountability for insecure products when they get exploited. Alex Santos, CEO of Fortress Information Security, explains how they’re typically hired by buyers of ICS equipment—such as utilities—to assess and m…

While cybersecurity threats targeting critical infrastructure, particularly focusing on the vulnerabilities of operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS).mostly originate on the business or IT side, there’s increasing concern about attacks crossing into OT, which could result in catastrophic consequences, especially in central…

This is a story about a Chief Hacking Officer who draws on his expertise in physical and virtual security assessments—along with some intuitive AI-driven coding—to safeguard Operational Technology. Colin Murphy of Frenos and Mitnick Security talks about how some of his early assessment work with Kevin Mitnick is helping him with OT security today.…

ROI is always a tricky subject in cybersecurity. If you’re paying millions of dollars in securing your OT networks, you’d want to be able to show that it was worth it. Andrew Hural of UnderDefense talks about the need for continuous vigilance, risk management, and proactive defense, acknowledging both the human and technological elements in cyberse…

Zero Trust is a security model based on default-deny policies and fine-grained access control governed by identity, authentication, and contextual signals. For RSAC 2025, John Kindervag, Chief Evangelist of Illumio and the creator of Zero Trust, talks about introducing a "protect surface" into legacy OT systems —isolating critical data, application…

Solar power systems are rapidly becoming essential elements of power grids throughout the world, especially in the US and EU. However, cybersecurity for these systems is often an afterthought, creating a growing risk to grid stability and availability. Daniel de Santos, Head of Research at Forescout, talks about his recent research into vulnerabili…

Gone are the days when you could repair your own car. Even ICE cars have more electronics than ever before. Alexander Pick is an independent hardware hacker specializing in automotive systems. He says if you start off small, like looking at ECUs, there’s a lot of great research yet to be done by both hobbyists and professionals alike.…

It’s becoming easier for criminals to use counterfeit or altered chips in common office products, such as printer toner cartridges, with the aim of espionage or simple financial gain. Tony Moor, Senior Director Of Silicon Lab Services For IOActive, explains how the hacking embedded silicon within common objects in our day to day lives is becoming m…

Embedded devices need basic security measures like multi-factor authentication and unique credentials to reduce vulnerabilities and protect against cyber threats. Mauritz Botha, co-founder and CTO of XiO Inc., explains that cloud-based SCADA can update old systems and provide the visibility that’s currently missing.…

As industrial enterprises lurch toward digital transformation and Industry 4.0, a new report looks at the security OT systems and finds it wanting. Grant Geyer, the Chief Strategy Officer for Claroty, talks about the findings from over one million devices in the field today, and what industries must do now to secure them.…

I recently rode in a Waymo, Google’s self-driving taxi service, and it was fantastic. What if we took that vehicle off the safe roads of California and put it in a warzone like Ukraine? If it was captured, could the enemy get its data or its algorithms? Brent Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at Cigent, talks about the data risks associated with autonom…

Imagine your best worst day during a cyber attack. Can you switch to manual systems in case of a failure? Has your team practiced for that? Dave Gunter, OT Cybersecurity Director at Armexa, discusses how a water and waste water utility in Kansas responded correctly to a cyberattack in 2024 by falling back to manual and issuing clear, and concise pr…

This is the story of how the security of OT devices in the field can be modernized virtual isolation in the cloud, adding both authentication and encryption into the mix. Bill Moore, founder and CEO of Xona, explains how you can virtualize the OT network and interact with it, adding 2FA and encryption to legacy systems already in the field.…

This is the story of the secret life of cellular chips and why we need to mitigate against the unintended access they provide. Deral Heiland, Principal Security Research for IoT at Rapid 7, describes a research project he presented at the IoT Village at DEF CON 32 where they compiled AT command manuals from various vendors, discovering unexpected f…

When we think of IoT, we first think of our smart light bulbs, our smart TVs, our smart baby monitors. However, we don't typically associate IoT with high-performance race cars, and yet they collect terabytes of data each race. Austin Allen, Director of Solutions Architecture at Airlock Digital, discusses the growing presence of smart devices and t…

What would happen if your GPS signal were jammed? It would impact more than just navigation – you'd also lose access to financial data and power. Joe Marshall, Senior IoT Strategist and Threat Researcher at Cisco Talos, discusses an innovative solution to maintain the country's power grid operations in the event of GPS jamming, whether it's a preca…

Cybercriminal tactics against ICS include direct threats against individuals for MFA credentials, sometimes escalating to physical violence if they won’t share. Jim Coyle, US Public Sector CTO for Lookout, warns about the increasing use of Android in critical Industrial Control Systems (ICS), such as HVAC systems, and how stealing MFA tokens from m…

If smart buildings are vulnerable to hacking, what about smart offices? Even devices like printers and lighting systems could give an attacker a way in. John Terrill, CSO at Phosphorus, recalls a moment while working at a hedge fund when he found himself in a room filled with priceless art. He realized that the security cameras safeguarding these a…

If you are in IT, you are probably not thinking about the risks associated with the Otis Elevator or the Coke machine. Maybe you should. Chester Wisnieski, the director and global field CTO at Sophos, points out that IoT devices, big and small, create an outsized threat to any organization. And that’s why IoT vendors need to secure these devices, e…

Political hacktivism once mainly focused on website defacement. Now it has shifted to targeting physical devices, affecting critical infrastructure such as water treatment plants. At Black Hat USA 2024, Noam Moshe from Claroty highlighted how the HMIs in PLC devices from Israeli manufacturers may be susceptible to political attacks by nation-state …

What if you could build your own embedded security tools, glitching devices for a fraction of the cost that you might expect. Like having a $150,000 laser setup for less than $500. A talk at Black Hat USA 2024 says you can. Sam Beaumont (Panth13r), Director of Transportation, mobility and cyber physical systems at NetSPI, and Larry Trowell (patch),…

Too few vulnerabilities in industrial control systems (ICS) are assigned CVEs because of client non-disclosure agreements. This results in repeatedly discovering the same vulnerabilities for different clients, especially in critical infrastructure. Don C. Weber from IOActive shares his experiences as an ICS security professional and suggests improv…

At DEF CON 32, in the ICS village, researchers disclosed vulnerabilities in home and commercial solar panel systems that could potentially disrupt the grid. Dan Berte, Director of IoT security for Bitdefender, discusses his more than a decade in IoT, how the vendor maturity often isn’t there for our smart TVs or even for our solar panels, so report…

The resources available at small utilities are scarce, and that’s a big problem because small water, gas, and electric facilities are increasingly under attack. Dawn Capelli of Dragos is the Director of OT-CERT, an independent organization that provides free resources to educate and even protect small and medium sized utilities from attack.…

For the last twenty years we’ve invested in software security without parallel development in firmware security. Why is that? Tom Pace, co-founder and CEO of NetRise, returns to Error Code to discuss the need for firmware software bills of materials, and why Zero Trust is a great idea yet so poorly implemented. As in Episode 30, Tom is a straight s…

That camera above your head might not seem like a good foreign target, yet in the Ukraine there’s evidence of Russian-backed hackers passively counting the number of foreign aid workers at the local train stations. Andrew Hural of UnderDefense talks about the need to secure everything around a person, everything around an organization, and everythi…

A critical skills gap in Operational Technology security could have a real effect on your water supply and other areas of the critical infrastructures. Christopher Walcutt from DirectDefense explains how the IT OT convergence, and the lack of understanding of what OT systems are, might be contributing to the spate of water systems attacks in 2024.…

When critical infrastructure is shut down due to ransomware or some other malicious attack, who gets notified and when? Chris Warner, from GuidePoint Security, discusses the upcoming Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act or CIRCIA and what it will mean for critical infrastructure organizations.…

When an enterprise network goes down, you call in the Incident Response team and they do forensics. When your SCADA goes down, who do you call? Meet Lesley Carhart, technical director of incident response at Dragos, who focuses on products and services for the non standard part of cybersecurity. That means things like performing digital forensics o…

This is a story about how organizations are moving their SCADA systems to the cloud and how they need to secure them or they’ll be attacked. Chris Doman, co-founder and CTO of Cado Security discusses the new NSC guidelines on SCADA in the Cloud and whether the guidelines are prescriptive enough.By Robert Vamosi

If you knock down an email server, you could stand up a parallel server or you could find workarounds. If you knock down a factory floor, there is no real parallel, alternative to a factory floor. Dane Grace, product manager at Brinqa talks about how the risks to OT carries with it an outsized kinetic response in the real world. For example, what w…

One of the problems with security is ROI. If I put in next gen this and next gen that and no security events happen, am I justified in making those expenditures? How do you quantify a risk like that? Padraic O’Reilly, founder and Chief Innovation Officer at CyberSaint, walks us through the risk analysis for IoT and OT systems, and why it’s importan…

This is the story of how a researcher turns commercial and commonly used EDRs and Cloud-based backup systems into wipers against the very data they’re designed to protect. Or Yair, security research team lead at Safe Breach, talks about his two presentations at SecTor 2023 that consider how to turn common security tools into potentially malicious w…

There’s a lot of talk about using AI and LLM in security. For example, could ChatGPT detect the vulnerable spots for power for analysis in particular pieces of code using Advanced Encryption Standard? Witold Waligora, CEO of CloudVA, talks about his Black Hat Europe presentation, How We Taught ChatGPT-4 to Break mbedTLS AES With Side-Channel Attack…

You might think that internet connected cameras would be limited in use by a bad actor. Actually such devices can be an entry point into an organization, providing yet another means of accessing the internal network. Mohammad Waqas, a field CTO at Armis, spoke at SecTor 2023 about the threat posed by IoT and OT devices in future cyberwarfare and di…

There’s a fake news report about three million internet-enabled toothbrushes contributing to a botnet. Unfortunately the mainstream media ran with the story before questioning its basic assumptions. This is a story about IoT devices and the fact that we still don’t understand how they are vulnerable. Tom Pace, co-founder and CEO of NetRise, talks a…

Ransomware groups have bifurcated with some doing pure ransomware and others going straight to extortion; it's whether the data is ransomed on your network or theirs. Nick Biasini from Cisco Talos talks about the threats he’s seeing, in particular, SapphireStealer which is open source and using GitHub to crowdsource new features.…

The Purdue Model used in OT is essentially network security from the 1990s. New threats and new tech however required us to rethink that on the network side so how do we bring that new thinking to work with legacy OT systems? John Taylor of Versa Networks explains how there's a lot of implicit trust in the IoT and OT devices themselves, yet they do…

Flaws within the chips in our laptops, in our homes, and in our critical infrastructure could become the access one needs to steal data if not just shut down an assembly line, or hold up production of a vital resource like power or water. Josh Salmanson, senior vice president at Telos, discusses why we’re seeing more and more pre-compromised router…

Can your OT function if the IT system goes down? OT self-sufficiency is critical for infrastructure such as rail systems. Christopher Warner, from GuidePoint Security, discusses how this infrastructure resilience is important not only for the rail industry but for most of the other critical infrastructures in general.…

Quantum computers will change and even break the cryptography we have today. To defeat a "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" strategy by bad actors (even nation states), Denis Mandich, CTO and co-founder of Qrypt, is proposing a type of crypto agility that compiles the keys on your laptop instead of distributing them across the internet. He also talks abo…

When we think of massive compute power, we think of the Cloud when we really should consider the millions of unprotected OT devices with even greater slack computer power than all our current Cloud services combined. Sonu Shankar, Vice President of Product at Phosphorus Cybersecurity, talks about the challenge of communicating with PLCs and other d…

There’s much of the electromagnetic spectrum that we cannot see. Like how LED wristbands are triggered at concerts or how to identify someone at DEF CON in a crowd of cellphones and electrical devices. Eric Escobar of SecureWorks provides some really clear analogies to help anyone visualize the differences between NFC, Bluetooth, and Wi Fi such as …

How might we mitigate the risk to millions of unauthenticated devices already out in the field? Ron Fabela, Field CTO at XONA Systems, has some ideas about how to achieve zero trust in either legacy or new OT systems. Really, it’s just a matter of reducing the attack surface.By Robert Vamosi

In a talk at Black Hat USA 2023, Sharon Brizinov and Noam Moshe from Claroty Team82, disclosed a significant vulnerability in the Open Platform Communications Universal Architecture or OPC-UA, a univsersal protocol used to synchronize different OT devices. In this episode they also discuss a new open source OPC exploit framework designed to help OT…

What would happen if someone stole the encryption keys for a major satellite? Well, it’d be game over. Unless the satellite used quantum cryptography. Skip Sanzeri from QuSecure explains how using “quantum tunnels” will allow even legacy satellites in orbit today to become secure in a rapidly approaching post-quantum world.…

This is a story of what's needed for the Capture The Flag competition at DEF CON 31 to be hosted for the first time on a live satellite orbiting 400 kilometers above the Earth. Mike Walker continues his conversation, focusing more on the game to be played in Hack-A-Sat 4.By Robert Vamosi

Moonlighter is the world’s first and only hacking sandbox in space. Currently orbiting the earth near the International Space Station, the satellite is the playground for this year’s Hack-A-Sat 4 competition at DEF CON 31. Mike Walker, from Cromulence, discusses the difference between hacking a live satellite in orbit vs the previous Hack-A-Sat CTF…