Spotlight Podcast: CSO Chris Walcutt on Managing 3rd Party OT Risk

In this Security Ledger Spotlight podcast transcript, DirectDefense CSO Christopher Walcutt discusses the evolving cyber risks to OT and critical infrastructure: nation-state and criminal targeting for persistence and disruption, supply-chain and hardware/software integrity issues, and the human factor (social engineering, SIM swapping) as a common initial access vector. The conversation covers examples from industry (Aurora experiment, SolarWinds-style and vendor-supplied device vulnerabilities), the difficulty of applying traditional IT controls to legacy OT systems, the need for vendor vetting and certification, and recommendations including stronger regulation/enforcement, workforce development, and targeted funding and education for utilities and small providers.