October 20

11:00 am PT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET

Critical infrastructure in the United States continues to face consistent threats, risk and impact, including nation-state or proxy-actor positioning and disruptive attacks, illustrated by a 2026 Iranian campaign affecting the Midwest, and more specifically, Minnesota water utilities. This activity highlights a core distinction: information technology security typically protects discrete assets, such as a server or data repository, while operational technology security protects a process, a set of interdependent components, including sensors, controllers, and actuators, that together perform a physical function.

Operations, Engineering, Technology, and Management all need to be on the same page, working towards the same goals and objectives. The securing of critical infrastructure benefits from both operational process owners and information technology counterparts. Mature cybersecurity methods and practices to shore up isolation, segmentation, remote access, and identity management go a long way to reducing significant levels of risk to our Nation's water, power, transportation, etc. Explore the differences and synergies between these two paradigms and how together they can provide the much needed holistic approach to safeguarding critical infrastructure.

Speaker:

• Paul Veeneman, MN ISSA President
  Paul Veeneman is President of the Information Systems Security Association Minnesota chapter. With over 27 years of experience across various industries including finance, oil and gas, healthcare and manufacturing, Paul has been actively working within the Nation’s critical infrastructure, addressing challenges, providing guidance, insight and innovation in Operations Technology, Industrial Controls, IoT, IIoT, SCADA cyber security knowledge, expertise, and education. Paul holds CISSP, CISM, and CRISC certifications, and his board work extends beyond the ISSA chapter to include the InfraGard Minnesota Members Alliance and the International Society of Automation (ISA) local chapter.

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