Track record

I came away understanding the Level 5 to Level 1 network model and how OT environments get targeted, all in one session. In IT you can stop a system and cut it off; in OT there is equipment you cannot stop. That difference clicked for me during the live demonstration of a scenario that over-pressurizes a chemical plant until it explodes, which gave me a concrete picture of the factory equipment and the physical damage. I want to keep learning so I can respond when a client brings an OT question to me.

The OT way of thinking, in the reverse order from IT, was new to me. Manufacturers use equipment for 20 years once it is installed and keep running it after it is written off. That is why operating systems past end of support are still in service and EDR cannot be installed. The lecture matched exactly what I see at the clients I serve. Now that clients have started raising OT, it was a valuable place to deepen my technical understanding.

I joined with no background in IT or OT, so it was hard, but it was fascinating, and I understood what this company does. It raised the question of how IT, the DMZ, and the factory are connected, and the explanation comparing the link between a sensor and a PLC to a smartphone charging cable made the premise that they are physically connected finally make sense to me.