Hack the Plant

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, Clutch CEO James Regan, and Palo Alto Networks Head of OT Threat Research Adam Robbie. First, Josh and Bryson recap the biggest moments from Critical Effect DC ‘26 this summer—from CISA Acting Director Nick Anderson’s keynote to policy experiments like the Cyber Policy Shark Tank. Then, James offers a preview of Critical Effect CA, where the OT/ICS workforce will gather in Sacramento to confront cyber threats. Finally, Adam presents the Intelligence-Driven Active Defense Report 2026, a joint effort by Palo Alto Networks, Siemens, and the Idaho National Laboratory to analyze global telemetry from over 61,000 firewalls.
“Securing critical infrastructure is not one person’s job. You bring multiple people, multiple teams with different expertise to come together,” Adam said.
Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plan[e]t.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast represent those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of their employers.
Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology.

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 operations, enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, and cloud strategy. After beginning her career on the IT side, Andrea now specializes in building secure, scalable, and resilient digital foundations. She takes Bryson through her transition from IT to OT, segmentation in the real world, and why the future of manufacturing depends on both better architectures—and better intentions.

What are the unique security challenges of a manufacturing environment? What are the best - and worst case scenarios for manufacturing and cyber conflict? And what’s the secret to overcoming cultural differences between IT and OT?

“In our industry, our main concern is protecting…. In people, protecting production, protecting society, environment. So we can work all day long to come up with new architecture, new ideas. But if there's another hacker that wants to hack into the organization, he's going to always find a way. So the magic wand, to be honest, would be just simply kindness,” Andrea said. 

Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plan[e]t. 

This June 17-18, join us for Critical Effect DC! Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/critical-effect-dc-2026-tickets-1987141703327?aff=oddtdtcreator

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast represent those of the speaker, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of their employers. 

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

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 traditional engineering and digital risk. Andrew walks us through the "invisible" nature of water systems, the impact of data centers on utility resilience, and how Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) protects our most essential resource.

How did a drive under a rebuilt bridge in Minneapolis pivot Andrew’s career toward critical infrastructure? Why did a single wastewater release shut down Waikiki Beach for an entire week? And what happens when a cybersecurity team finds a client’s PLC exposed on the open internet?

“To me, the integration of understanding cyber or digital risk in our critical infrastructure, the engineers picking that understanding up, building awareness, building skill sets, figuring out how to manage that risk, is one of the most important things that we've been working on,” he said.

Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plan[e]t. 

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast represent those of the speaker, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of their employers. 

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

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 medicine, Natalie turned her attention to the critical intersection of clinical medicine, patient safety, and cybersecurity resilience after experiencing a prolonged ransomware attack on a major hospital. Dr. Sullivan lays out the disaster preparedness cycle, and the many vectors of risks for hospitals. 
How does a cyberattack on one hospital lead to increased cardiac arrest mortality at the hospital three blocks away? Why is a generation of "digital native" doctors a hidden vulnerability in an analog emergency? And what happens when a hospital's reliance on these "tightly coupled" systems—like water, power, and the Medical IoT—collapses during a ransomware event?
“We are critical infrastructure, but we're deeply, deeply dependent on the surrounding critical infrastructure,” Dr. Sullivan said. 
Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plan[e]t. 
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast represent those of the speaker, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of their employers. 
Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology.

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 former CISO and industry veteran with decades of experience starting security programs at giants like Halliburton and Marathon Oil, Dd breaks down IT vs OT auditing, the cultural divide in oil and gas, and what cybersecurity looks like in the energy sector.   
How did an early mistake involving a patch reboot change Dd's career forever? What is preventing private companies and the FBI from working together? Why is basic hygiene—like disabling terminated accounts—still the biggest "unsolved" problem in billion-dollar industries? 
“If you want to upgrade your home, to modernize it, the foundation still needs to be fixed first,” Dd said. 
Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plan[e]t. 
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast represent those of the speaker, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of their employers. 
Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology.