Podcasts · Technology · Science

Hack the Plant

Bryson Bort

54 episodes

Electricity. Finance. Transportation. Our water supply. In Hack the Plant, podcast host Bryson Bort looks for answers to the question: Does connecting these systems, and others, to the internet leaves us more vulnerable to attacks by our enemies? We often take these critical infrastructure systems for granted, but they’re all becoming increasingly dependent on the internet to function. From the ransomware threats of Colonial Pipeline to the failure of the Texas power grid, it is clear our interconnectivity is also a significant source of risk. Hack the Plant walks through the world of hackers working on the front lines of cyber security and public safety to protect the systems you rely upon every day.

More about the show

Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology.

ICS Village is a nonprofit that equips industry experts and policymakers with the tools to better defend our critical infrastructure. We educate people on critical infrastructure security with hands-on examples, not just nerd stuff. Catch us at an event near you! www.icsvillage.com.

The Institute for Security and Technology is a nonprofit think tank with the mission to bridge gaps between technology and policy leaders to help solve these emerging security problems together. Learn more at securityandtechnology.org.

Episodes page 1 of 2

  1. Securing What Feeds Us

    · 35 min · Episode 54

    In this episode, Bryson Bort talks with Kristin King, technologist, environmental manager, and host of the Bites and Bytes podcast, on why food and agriculture remain a dangerously overlooked piece of critical…

  2. From DC to Sacramento: Building Resilient Critical Infrastructure and OT Workforces

    · 36 min · Episode 53

    Welcome to season 6 of Hack the Plant! In this premiere episode, our host Bryson Bort is joined by three special guests: Institute for Security and Technology Exec in Residence and UnDisruptable27 leader Josh Corman,…

  3. Kindness and Critical Infrastructure: Rethinking OT Security

    · 33 min · Episode 52

    In this bonus episode, Bryson Bort sits down with Andrea Haddad, a leader in technology and infrastructure architecture. Andrea has almost two decades of global experience across infrastructure, including network…

  4. Cyber-Informed Engineering: Moving Beyond the Firewall

    · 43 min · Episode 51

    For the last episode of season 5, host Bryson Bort sat down with Andrew Ohrt, Resilience Director at West Yost Associates. A civil engineer specializing in water infrastructure, Andrew bridges the gap between…

  5. Systems Engineering for Survival: A Physician's Guide to Emergency Management

    · 30 min · Episode 50

    Our host Bryson Bort welcomes Dr. Natalie Sullivan, Medical Director of the Emergency Response Medical Group and an emergency medicine physician at a D.C. area hospital. Trained in EMS and disaster and operational…

  6. Bridging the IT/OT Divide in Oil & Gas

    · 39 min · Episode 49

    Bryson Bort is joined by Dd Budiharto, Microsoft’s Customer Security Officer for the Oil, Gas, and Energy sectors, to share her experience bridging the IT/OT divide in the energy sector. Drawing on her background as a…

  7. AI and the Future of Maritime Cybersecurity

    · 41 min · Episode 48

    In this episode, host Bryson Bort sits down with Gary Kessler, retired cybersecurity professor and co-founder and director of the Maritime Hacking Village. As a maritime cybersecurity researcher, consultant, and…

  8. Creating a Cyber Aware Culture for Local Water Utilities

    · 28 min · Episode 47

    Deputy Managing Director at the Cyber Readiness Institute Lessie Skiba joins host Bryson Bort to discuss the CRI’s new program connecting small- and medium-sized water utilities with cyber coaches to strengthen their…

  9. Local Infrastructure is Critical Infrastructure

    · 51 min · Episode 46

    Our host Bryson sits down with Colin Ahern and Kirk Herath, two of the only cybersecurity experts working in Governors’ offices in the United States. Colin was appointed Chief Cyber Officer of the State of New York by…

  10. Old Systems, New Threats

    · 31 min · Episode 45

    Bryson Bort is joined by Jim Montgomery, Director, Industrial Cybersecurity Solutions at TXOne Networks. TXOne provides network-based and endpoint-based products to tackle security vulnerabilities across industrial…

  11. The Truth About OT Vulnerabilities

    · 34 min · Episode 44

    Bryson Bort sits down with Adam Robbie, Head of OT Threat Research at Palo Alto Networks, to pull back the curtain on OT threat research. With a background in electrical engineering, Adam’s first job in cybersecurity…

  12. Bridging the Cybersecurity Resource Gap

    · 34 min · Episode 43

    Bryson Bort welcomes Sarah Powazek, Program Director of Public Interest Cybersecurity at the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, to discuss the organization’s work providing cybersecurity resources for the…

  13. Preparing for Unnatural Disasters

    · 40 min · Episode 42

    Welcome to season 5! Our host Bryson Bort sits down with Institute for Security and Technology (IST) Executive in Residence for Public Safety & Security Josh Corman. Josh previously joined us on season 1, episode 2 to…

  14. From the Archives

    · 23 min · Episode 41

    For the final episode of the season, our host Bryson Bort reflects on four years and forty episodes of Hack the Plan[e]t, and picks a few favorites. Episode 8, DoD and Critical Infrastructure:…

  15. Protecting Critical Infrastructure for Rural Electric Cooperatives

    · 31 min · Episode 40

    Bryson is joined by Carter Manucy, Director of Cybersecurity at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to discuss rural electric cooperatives, the importance of collaboration, and the state of…

  16. Reliability and Risks of the North American Power Grid

    · 28 min · Episode 39

    Bryson is joined by Sara Patrick, President and CEO at the Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) to discuss cyber threats, mitigation strategies, and the United States energy infrastructure system. A lawyer by…

  17. Securing Embedded Systems

    · 31 min · Episode 38

    In this episode, Bryson sits down with MITRE EMB3D co-founder Niyo Little Thunder Pearson. For nearly 20 years, Niyo has been at the forefront of protecting critical infrastructure systems. He previously led incident…

  18. The Case For A Cyber Force

    · 42 min · Episode 37

    In this episode, Bryson sits down with Mark Montgomery, Senior Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. For three years, Mark served as Executive Director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, created by…

  19. Supporting Ukrainian Electrical Grid Resilience in Wartime

    · 32 min · Episode 36

    Joe Marshall is a Senior IoT Security Strategist at Cisco Talos Intelligence Group. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Joe helped coordinate a multinational, multi-company coalition of volunteers and experts to find…

  20. Preparing for the potential worst day

    · 31 min · Episode 35

    In this episode, Bryson Bort is joined by Paul Shaver, Global OT Security Practice Lead at Mandiant / Google Cloud to discuss the cyber threat landscape. How did Paul’s military background play a role in his decision…

  21. The ICS Hacker

    · 34 min · Episode 34

    Claroty is a cybersecurity company that helps organizations to secure cyber-physical systems across industrial (OT), healthcare (IoMT), and enterprise (IoT) environments: the Extended Internet of Things (XIoT). In…

  22. Securing, Defending, and Bringing Resilience to Infrastructure

    · 37 min · Episode 33

    Psymetis creates Operational Technology (OT) security solutions that quickly and prevent electric grid outages and catastrophic infrastructure failures. Psymetis’ Werewolf system provides condition monitoring and…

  23. CISA’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Mission with Jen Easterly

    · 51 min · Episode 32

    As America’s Cyber Defense Agency and the National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads the national effort to understand,…

  24. Ensuring Cybersecurity for Amtrak

    · 42 min · Episode 31

    I’m joined by Jesse Whaley, the Chief Information Security Officer at Amtrak, for this episode of Hack the Plant. Amtrak is the nation's largest passenger rail service provider and one of the most complex and critical…

  25. Open Source Data Visualization for Cyber Threats

    · 39 min · Episode 30

    I’m joined by Dan Ricci, founder of the ICS Advisory Project, for this episode of Hack the Plant. The ICS Advisory Project is a free, open-source platform that helps asset owners across 16 critical infrastructure…

  26. Cyber Threat Intelligence Over the Past 25 Years

    · 49 min · Episode 28

    I’m joined by Jason Healey, a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs, for this episode of Hack the Plant. Jason is a pioneer of cyber threat intelligence, with…

  27. Architecting Threat Responses

    · 47 min · Episode 29

    I’m joined by David Patrick Emmerich, the Principal Cyber-Physical Range Architect at the University of Illinois, for this episode of Hack the Plant. We’re here today to talk about RADICS, a DARPA project. RADICS…

  28. Managing Incident Responses to Critical Infrastructure Attacks

    · 43 min · Episode 27

    For today’s episode, I’m joined by Lesley Carhart. Lesley is the Director of Incident Response for North America at the industrial cybersecurity company Dragos, Inc. She leads incident response and proactively hunts…

  29. Idaho National Labs and the Next Generation of Critical Infrastructure Security

    · 32 min · Episode 26

    For today’s episode, I’m joined by Zach Tudor, the Associate Laboratory Director at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). INL is a Department of Energy national laboratory, is the nation's leading center for nuclear energy…

  30. Resilience and Safety for Electric Co-Ops

    · 34 min · Episode 25

    “One of my favorite topics is disaster resilience. We do quite a bit of work on what mutual assistance looks like and how to improve mutual assistance, how to rebuild systems once they've been hit by something…

  31. Threats to Industrial Control Systems

    · 33 min · Episode 24

    “What's been most concerning is the rise of wiper malware. Threat actors are no longer interested in hey we're going to lock up all of your data. We're going to encrypt everything and force you to pay a ransom and then…

  32. Accelerating Innovation in Electric & Gas

    · 34 min · Episode 22

    “Most industrial economies only consume about 20% our total end use energy in the form of electricity. The rest, we consume by basically combusting fossil fuel … You could get all of your electricity from wind and…

  33. Cyber threats to agriculture and food production

    · 34 min · Episode 23

    “Agriculture and cybersecurity has just run under the radar. We're talking about something that's one fifth of the us economy right? This is this is a huge deal here in the US, and globally as well … We can begin get…

  34. Training the Cyber Workforce of the Future

    · 29 min · Episode 21

    “You can only cover about 65% of the cybersecurity workforce demand with the existing workforce today. So we need to do something to address that gap. We need to either build that workforce or re-skill existing…

  35. Diversity in Power Systems Distribution

    · 36 min · Episode 20

    “How do we talk about all the great things we're doing in our communities, in optimizing and trying to reduce carbon, and looking at new solutions and coming up with different technologies that can help advance to help…

  36. The future of cybersecurity education?

    · 40 min · Episode 19

    “I've been educating now for about eight years within the college system and that hands-on experiential learning is critical. When I have students do something that's like a scenario based off of different security…

  37. INL - Wind energy and cybersecurity challenges

    · 41 min · Episode 18

    Wind energy is one of the most rapidly growing energy generation sources in the US - how can these renewable systems stay resilient in the face of cyber attacks as the industry grows? In this episode, we hear from…

  38. Cyber Challenges to Securing Our Electric System - California and Beyond

    · 40 min · Episode 17

    “Initially it was looking at specific types of attacks and thinking how those could be utilized against our systems, but then it became more sophisticated in thinking of how these attacks could be coordinated together…

  39. Innovation in Critical Infrastructure

    · 52 min · Episode 16

    “We had to go out and talk to experts and just have the conversations and then be brutally honest about what those people were telling us about the problem. In many cases, we didn't even tell them what we were thinking…

  40. AI and Critical Infrastructure

    · 29 min · Episode 15

    When will hard infrastructure have machine learning capabilities? It might be sooner than you think. Ariel Stern, formerly an engineer in the Israeli Ministry of Defense and a civil infrastructure project manager,…

  41. Biden Admin's Cybersecurity Executive Order

    · 39 min · Episode 14

    On May 12, 2021, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order “On Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.” This came in the wake of ransomware attacks drawing national attention: Solar Winds, Colonial Pipeline, and…

  42. ERCOT and the Texas Power Outage

    · 32 min · Episode 13

    In February, severe winter storms and an electricity generation failure left almost 5 million people in Texas without power, leading to hundreds of deaths, and a shortage of heat, food and water. The Electric…

  43. Department of Defense Policy and ICS Security

    · 45 min · Episode 12

    Daryl Haegley is the Director of Cyberspace Mission Assurance and Deterrence at the Department of Defense. Daryl oversees cybersecurity efforts to secure control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT), and…

  44. The Congressman, The Commission, and Our Critical Infrastructure

    · 57 min · Episode 11

    Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) has been instrumental in setting up the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a bipartisan, intragovernmental body whose goal is to help create a strategic approach to defending the United…

  45. On the Front Lines with Rob Lee

    · 46 min · Episode 10

    Rob Lee, the CEO and founder of the industrial cybersecurity company, Dragos, is a pioneer in the ICS threat intelligence and incident response community. Before Dragos, Rob served as a cyber operations officer in the…

  46. DoD and Critical Infrastructure

    · 42 min · Episode 9

    The Army Cyber Institute has been testing the cybersecurity preparedness of cities around the country in an experiment called Jack Voltaic. It is a major, multi-sector public private exercise aimed at understanding…

  47. Critical Infrastructure Protection & ICS

    · 40 min · Episode 8

    For today's episode, I'm joined by Dale Peterson, who is on the leading edge of helping security conscious asset owners in a range of sectors effectively manage and reduce cyber risk to their Industrial Control Systems…

  48. Critical Response for Critical Infrastructure

    · 35 min · Episode 7

    Megan Samford is the first woman Chief Product Security Officer in industrial control systems (ICS) manufacturing. She's spent time in both the private and public sectors, from Rockwell Automation and General Electric…

  49. BEER and Cyber

    · 37 min · Episode 6

    Patrick Miller sits at the intersection of cybersecurity and regulation because, as he likes to say, "those two don't fit well." Beyond his decades of work in the space, he also co-founded BEER-ISAC, a network of…

  50. Oil, Gas and Cybersecurity in the Middle East

    · 43 min · Episode 5

    "Securing and having the right measures of cybersecurity relates to the national security of the whole country and our national income." Reem Al-Shammari is the chief information security officer for the Kuwait Oil…

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