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Industrial cybersecurity has to protect people and operations, not just networks. In a February 14, 2025 SecurityWeek interview, Dragos Technical Director of Incident Response Lesley Carhart argues that enterprise security teams cannot simply apply office-IT practices to operational technology (OT): process safety, continuity, and trust shape what defenses will work.
Why enterprise security and OT need to work together
OT includes the systems used to monitor or control physical processes. In industrial environments, a security action that seems routine in an office network—such as immediate patching or a broad audit—can have consequences for safety or production. Carhart says enterprise teams can weaken security when they disregard those constraints, make unrealistic patch demands, tolerate poorly understood shadow IT, or fail to communicate with the people who operate the process.
The remedy is not to exclude security, but to build it with OT staff. Carhart’s practical starting point is: “Start with shadowing and listening to your OT staff.” Learn how the process works and what could happen if it is interrupted or someone is injured. That context helps teams choose controls and response actions that operators can actually use.
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Trust is part of the response capability, not a substitute for technical controls. As Carhart puts it, “You can’t respond to an emergency if people refuse to speak to one another.”
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Make incident response fit the industrial environment
A generic IT incident-response template may omit the equipment, operating constraints, and recovery needs that matter in a plant or utility. Carhart’s warning is direct: “It is not a copy-paste from Enterprise.” An OT plan should reflect the specific environment it is meant to cover and be exercised before an incident.
Build and exercise an OT-specific plan
- Map the process and its dependencies. Work with OT personnel to understand what systems support the operation, which actions could disrupt it, and what safety constraints govern response.
- Make response information usable. Know how responders can find relevant network information and locate device backups needed for recovery.
- Run tabletops and drills. Test the plan with the people who would use it. Exercises can reveal where assumptions, communication paths, or recovery steps do not match the real environment.
- Revise what fails in practice. Use exercise findings to improve roles, coordination, and technical procedures rather than treating the written plan as proof of readiness.
Why critical infrastructure security has human consequences
Carhart frames industrial control systems as important to modern life and says both state and criminal actors may recognize the potential impact of attacks. In the interview, Carhart also argues that available capabilities and information can lower barriers to industrial attacks. These are Carhart’s assessments; the interview does not provide numeric threat measurements.
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The effects of disruption can extend beyond a company. Carhart points to municipal water and sewage services alongside electricity, and says smaller utilities and underprivileged communities may face greater resource gaps than larger industrial sectors. The interview gives no quantified estimate of those disparities, so this should be understood as Carhart’s perspective rather than a measured comparison. The practical implication is to take the consequences for the people who depend on a service seriously when setting security priorities.
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Carhart’s own route into industrial cybersecurity included service as an Air Force aircraft electronics technician, study as a network engineering major, and a later focus on industrial technology security. They say they stayed at Dragos because they value protecting infrastructure whose damage can harm people or the environment, and because specialized industrial incident response lets them make an impact.
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Carhart describes different career settings as trade-offs, not a universal ladder. Public-sector work may offer interesting training and greater stability in career and work-life balance. Startups and small companies may offer faster organizational impact and less siloed work. The right choice depends on what someone values and the work environment available to them.
In mentorship conversations, Carhart often hears concerns about choosing a specialty, navigating toxic workplaces, pressure to move into management, and burnout. They encourage senior practitioners to make mentorship organized and intentional, rather than leaving newer workers to find support by chance. One boundary matters throughout a career: “Your work is not your family.”
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Carhart also describes cybersecurity as comparatively supportive of LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse, and other nontraditional workers in their personal experience, while acknowledging backlash and pressure to appear unremarkable in customer-facing work. This is personal testimony, not an industry-wide survey finding.
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For Carhart, improving the “human condition” is tied to how people reason and treat one another. They connect bias awareness, cause-and-effect thinking, recognizing disinformation, threat modeling, and lifelong education to better decisions both in cybersecurity and society. Their wish is simple: “If I had just one magical genie wish, I would improve critical thinking skills in humans around the world.”
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Carhart’s biography says they live in Melbourne, Australia, and teach SANS ICS515: ICS Visibility, Detection, and Response. SecurityWeek’s interview editor’s note says the move to Melbourne was announced after the interview, while Carhart continued as Dragos Technical Director of Incident Response.
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