PrOTect It All

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/

The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/

This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep125/

The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/

A wireless engineer sat in a parking lot, connected to a plant's crane anti-collision network, and had everything he needed to stop the cranes inside 20 minutes. Nobody inside the fence ever knew he was there.

In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow talks with Scott McNeil, Industrial Network and Security Architect II at Global Process Automation (GPA), about the part of the OT network most plants never look at: the airspace. Scott has spent more than 20 years in networking and wireless, the last ten of them entirely in OT, and he sits in the integrator's seat, working across every manufacturer's gear without a product to sell.

The conversation starts where most plants actually are: one flat network, off the shelf gear on the floor, and no budget. Scott's argument is that the low hanging fruit costs time and effort, not money, and that a stable network is the foundation for everything security asks for later: segmentation, inventory, monitoring, then a firewall between OT and IT. He walks through war driving your own plant, why a hidden SSID is not security, the wild west of industrial wireless protocols, wireless that was abandoned in power plants years ago and is still on the air, and where wireless earns its place.

The second half is about vendors and access. Do not take the vendor's word for it, ask the questions before the gear ships, and treat every third party connection as your own exposure. Scott's rule for remote access is simple: this is my house, vendors connect on my terms, every session logged, with an approve or deny button before anyone gets in. Aaron adds the zip tie in the fan story, a backup switch that had silently failed months earlier and nobody knew until monitoring went on, and the two close on shrinking the wireless footprint that leaves your site and on Scott's podcast, The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why a stable network comes before any security project, and what to fix first

How to war drive your own plant and what a passive scan of your airspace tells an attacker

Why hiding the SSID and relying on obscurity is not a control

Which industrial wireless protocols are standards based and which are proprietary risk

The questions to ask a wireless vendor before you sign

How to run vendor remote access on your terms: logged sessions, approve or deny, no standing tunnels

Why monitoring finds failures you did not know you had

Tune in to hear why your industrial airspace deserves the same design, monitoring, and ownership as any wired connection.

About the guest:

Scott McNeil is an Industrial Network and Security Architect II at Global Process Automation (GPA), where he helps manufacturers design, secure, and modernize the OT networks that keep critical processes running: architecture, IT/OT convergence, segmentation, resilient connectivity, and industrial wireless. A longtime wireless engineer, he created and co-hosts The Industrial WiFi Shop Podcast with Jeremy Baker, speaks regularly at OT and industrial cybersecurity events, holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Technology from East Carolina University with multiple wireless and network certifications, and serves on the UNC Wilmington Cybersecurity Advisory Board.

Important Links:

LinkedIn of Scott McNeil:

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/

The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/

This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep124/

The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/

NIS2, the EU Cyber Resilience Act, and CIRCIA are converging between now and 2027, and for the first time the law is pushing cybersecurity requirements upstream into product design and supply chain. What does that actually change on the plant floor?

In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow talks with Tobias Nitzsche, Head of Legislation and Technology for Cybersecurity at ABB Energy Industries, about the shift regulation is driving in OT: responsibility moving from the server rooms into the boardrooms, and from the operator to the manufacturer.

Tobias makes the case that what gets regulated are fundamentally the basics: risk assessment, asset inventory, cyber hygiene, and detection. The industry has preached these for a decade. Now the law demands them, which makes compliance the business case that finally unlocks long-overdue modernization budget. His advice: do not treat legislation as a paper exercise. Treat it as a utility.

The second half is about recovery, the foundation most plants skip. Aaron and Tobias dig into the vendor-install backup that has never been tested, recovery targets that ignore how long a plant really takes to come back, retain values operators tuned for years that live nowhere else, redundant controllers that are not cyber resilience, and vendor SLAs that send a system engineer when you needed a cyber expert. Tobias's practical pattern: keep a replica of your critical systems, restore into the bubble, and be as intrusive as you like there, scanners and all, without touching production.

Also in this one: NIS2 Article 20 and personal liability for executives, why a cyber incident does not need a nation state (bad firmware counts), where AI belongs in the Purdue model and where it does not, AI as the daily brief for the one-person water utility, Aaron's Exchange 5.5 story about the week the executives lost their email, borrowing the safety engineers' hazard studies as risk input, and why you should never fire up a wireless pineapple on an airplane.

In this episode, you'll learn:

How NIS2, the Cyber Resilience Act, and CIRCIA move accountability to executives and manufacturers

Why 24-hour incident reporting starts with detection, and why you can't wing it

How to reframe your next modernization budget ask around compliance

What a real recovery plan needs: tested backups, plant-realistic RPO and RTO, and captured retain values

Why redundant controllers protect against failure, not compromise

How to test restores and run scanners safely in a replica instead of production

Where AI helps an understaffed operator and where it should never take control

Tune in to hear how the biggest regulatory wave in industrial cybersecurity history can become the budget unlock OT has been waiting for.

About the guest:

Tobias Nitzsche is Head of Legislation and Technology for Cybersecurity at ABB Energy Industries, where he translates the fast-moving regulatory landscape, including NIS2, the EU Cyber Resilience Act, and CIRCIA, into how products are designed and projects are delivered for critical infrastructure. Before this role he was ABB's Global Cyber Security Practice Lead, capping more than 20 years across IT and OT security. Having sat on both sides of the table, first delivering cybersecurity services to critical infrastructure operators and now shaping...

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/

The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/

This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep123/

The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/

AI is a consensus engine, and consensus on the internet is frequently wrong. So what does that mean for the people defending power plants, water systems, and factories with it?

In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow welcomes back Jori VanAntwerp, CEO and founder of EmberOT, for a completely unscripted conversation on AI in OT. Two practitioners who use AI aggressively every day make the case for restraint in exactly the places that matter.

Jori explains why human in the loop is non-negotiable: AI shapes a junior's output to look senior without the understanding underneath, so you have to be able to interrogate it. Aaron walks through his own sandbox discipline, where AI gets a folder and not the keys, and nothing goes in that he would not publish on the internet.

The conversation then turns to the OT reality behind AI-found vulnerabilities, why an attacker who can reach your HMI or PLC does not need your unpatched CVE, teaching AI your voice with markdown primers, the build-versus-buy MVP trap, the submarine principle for modular defense, and why an operator flipping to manual is still the save of last resort.

Underneath all of it is the workforce math nobody is doing on air: if one person plus AI does the work of five, nobody is training juniors, and no juniors today means no seniors in ten years. OT's aging-out workforce is the preview.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why AI is a consensus engine, and why that framing predicts where it fails

Why human in the loop is not optional for anything that matters

How to sandbox AI in real workflows: a folder, not the keys

How to rank AI-found vulnerabilities against what an attacker in your OT network can actually do

How primers teach AI your voice, brand, and rules

The build versus buy trap: if a power company builds its own software, it is now a software company

The submarine principle: compartments, modular tooling, and swapping tools without ripping out the estate

Why analog fallbacks and operators keep saving critical infrastructure

The junior pipeline problem: no juniors today means no seniors in ten years

Why the entry-level job for OT cybersecurity is IT

Tune in for the most honest AI conversation the show has had, from the people who actually run it in OT.

About the guest:

Jori VanAntwerp is a two-time cybersecurity founder and CEO who has spent over two decades helping industrial and IT/OT organizations reduce risk, strengthen compliance, and mature the way they defend critical infrastructure. He has held executive and leadership roles at McAfee, FireEye, CrowdStrike, Dragos, and Gravwell before stepping into the founder seat, first at SynSaber and now as the Founder and CEO at EmberOT. The result is a vantage point that runs from the boardroom to the packet capture, from silicon to the cloud. At EmberOT, he is focused on bringing visibility, security, and risk quantification to the critical infrastructure the rest of the world takes for granted.

From EmberOT:

Want to see what is really happening in your OT environment? EmberOT provides flow-first, passive OT visibility and threat detection without requiring proprietary hardware.

Learn more about EmberOT...

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/

The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/

This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep122/

The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/

Get your tickets for CYBR.SEC.CON., a two-day cybersecurity conference, here: https://www.cybrseccon.com/

What started with 120 people and a homemade Word flyer has grown into a cybersecurity community of more than 3,000. So what does it take to build a community that can scale without losing its personal connection?

In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow sits down with Michael Farnum, CEO and co-founder of CYBR.SEC.Community, and Sam Van Ryder, co-founder and an OT sales expert, to explore the story behind the growth of CYBR.SEC.CON and the community surrounding it.

Michael and Sam share how they went from a grassroots cybersecurity gathering to a thriving community while keeping the relationships and sense of connection that made the event special in the first place.

The conversation goes beyond conferences. Aaron, Michael, and Sam discuss the challenges facing people trying to break into cybersecurity and OT, why entry-level opportunities can be difficult to find, and what experienced professionals can do to help develop the next generation of cyber defenders.

They also share their hands-on efforts to introduce young people to cybersecurity, including bringing 75 high school students into the community, with plans to reach 150.

From hiring and firing lessons to career advice, community building, and the future of OT cybersecurity, this episode offers practical insight for anyone looking to grow their career, build meaningful connections, or help strengthen the cybersecurity workforce.

In this episode, you'll learn:

How CYBR.SEC.Community grew from 120 people to more than 3,000

What it takes to scale a cybersecurity community without losing its personal feel

Why conferences can play an important role in cybersecurity careers

How to break into OT and cybersecurity when you're just starting out

The challenges surrounding entry-level cybersecurity jobs

How community and mentorship can help develop the next generation of cyber professionals

What CYBR.SEC.Community is doing to engage high school students in cybersecurity

Coming September 15 and 16, 2026

CYBR.SEC.CON 2026 brings the cybersecurity community together again on September 15 and 16 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

If you're looking to connect with cybersecurity professionals, expand your network, learn from practitioners, discover career opportunities, and be part of a growing cyber community, CYBR.SEC.CON 2026 is an event worth checking out.

Tune in to hear the story behind CYBR.SEC.CON, the people building the community, and why the future of cybersecurity depends on bringing more people into the conversation.

About the guests:

Michael Farnum is the CEO and co-founder of CYBR.SEC.Community and has worked in IT and cybersecurity since 1994. He founded HOU.SEC.CON. in 2010, which evolved into CYBR.SEC.CON., now attracting more than 3,000 cybersecurity professionals annually. Michael is passionate about cybersecurity community building, workforce development, education, and career development, and is a frequent speaker and podcaster on security leadership and industry trends....

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/

The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/

This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep121/

The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/

AI has made it easier than ever to build a cybersecurity product. But has it also made it harder to build a valuable cybersecurity company?

In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow sits down with Ken Elefant, Founding Managing Director of the venture group at Sorenson Capital, for a candid conversation about what really makes cybersecurity startups succeed.

Ken shares a venture investor's perspective on the rapidly changing security market, including why simply wrapping a product around an LLM may not create lasting value, how AI is accelerating commoditization, and what founders need to do to build a meaningful competitive advantage.

The conversation goes beyond technology to explore the often-overlooked role of people, process, market positioning, and execution. Aaron and Ken discuss the importance of finding the right "wedge" into enterprise security, solving real customer problems, differentiating in crowded markets, and building companies that can create lasting value rather than chasing the latest technology trend.

They also draw on lessons from successful cybersecurity exits and the changing threat landscape to examine what investors are looking for as AI reshapes both cybersecurity products and the businesses behind them.

Key Learning: 

What venture investors look for in cybersecurity startups

Why AI-powered security products can quickly become commoditized

How founders can find a strong market wedge

Why solving a real customer problem matters more than adding AI

The role of people and process in building successful security companies

How cybersecurity startups can differentiate in an increasingly crowded market

What founders and operators can learn from successful security exits

Where AI is creating genuine opportunity and where the hype may be ahead of the value

Key Moments: 

03:43 Using AI in podcasting

07:41 Trusting vendors and cybersecurity risks

10:59 Building Connections for Early Investments

15:19 Investing in emerging tech markets

17:45 Supporting AI-based startup growth

20:19 Building simple websites for businesses

26:03 Attracted to boring, overlooked markets

27:21 Building compliance products at Industrial Defender

30:16 Investing in defense tech startups

33:20 Experienced founders leveraging AI for products

38:32 Navigating fast-changing tech landscape

40:09 Importance of Building Trust in Business

Whether you're a cybersecurity founder, investor, security practitioner, technology leader, or entrepreneur, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at how experienced investors evaluate innovation in one of the fastest-moving areas of technology.

Tune in to hear what separates a promising cybersecurity idea from a company capable of creating lasting value.

DISCLAIMER : "Any portfolio companies mentioned in this episode are investments of Sorenson Capital funds and do not represent all fund investments. A complete list of investments is available upon request. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation to buy securities."

About the guest : 
...