Oct 29, 2026 · 37 min
OT security demands hands-on expertise as cyber threats widen
A leak in the chain of command.
The episode connects a fast-moving threat landscape with the specialized skills and practical training needed to protect systems that control physical infrastructure.
- 1Operational technology protects physical processes, so its security priorities and expertise differ from conventional information technology.
- 2Hands-on training with industrial equipment can help practitioners understand how cyber risks affect real operational environments.
- 3Technology firms and national-security customers need stronger pathways for validating innovations and translating them into mission use.
Don't miss
Yonald Cherry explains how TAC’s hands-on OT boot camp uses simulated industrial plants, real equipment, circuits, and programmable logic controllers.
The brief
The episode opens with a broad cybersecurity roundup spanning a Department of Homeland Security data leak, Volt Typhoon activity, a Cisco firewall zero-day, GitHub attacks, VMware exploitation, election disruption, ransomware, and post-quantum guidance.
Yonald Cherry of the Technology Advancement Center argues that operational technology security cannot simply import information-technology habits: factories, grids, water systems, and buildings require specialized priorities and expertise.
Cherry describes TAC’s OT boot camp, where students work with simulated industrial plants, real equipment, circuits, and programmable logic controllers to see how cyber risks affect physical processes.
The conversation also examines how TAC connects small technology firms with national-security customers, while AI compresses the path from data to decisions and operational action.
The episode closes with HeatBit’s BitWater, an $899 water-heating device that uses Bitcoin-mining chips, illustrating the practical tradeoffs of combining household infrastructure with computation.
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