They Deserve to Be Defended: OT Defense, Transitioning Vets and Weaponized Sneaker Net

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/
The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/
This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep129/
The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/

The small water utility down the road cannot afford a big consultancy, and it still has to be defended. Erin Burns is building a company around that problem.

Erin is an Army veteran with roughly two decades in cyber operations and the founder of EVR:RDY Defensive Operations Group. He and Aaron take on the question every transitioning veteran asks, how do I get into OT, and the problem behind it: automation is closing the entry-level door just as small utilities need defenders most. They get into hiring troubleshooters instead of job reqs, engineering a low-cost data diode, why a tool nobody runs is worse than no tool, the air gap myth, and how Erin's team weaponized sneaker net to get packet capture out of sites that will never allow remote access.

Key takeaway

The utilities that cannot afford a big consultancy still have to be defended. If you mandate a standard, fund it, and build the people pipeline the same way you build the product: with problem solvers, hands-on apprenticeship and tools small operators will actually use. A tool nobody uses is worse than no tool.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold open
• 0:25 Intro
• 0:46 Meet Erin Burns
• 2:26 The question every transitioning vet asks
• 3:23 Hard hats and factory floors
• 5:43 Automation is closing the entry-level door
• 8:03 Ignore the job req
• 11:06 A pilot with local water sites
• 12:17 Automate to lower the noise floor
• 14:19 No juniors means no seniors
• 16:36 The operator wearing every hat
• 17:55 Engineering a low-cost data diode
• 19:28 Dave's network and the XP box
• 21:44 School lunches, police cruisers and cyber
• 26:19 A tool nobody runs
• 27:11 Why investors hate this model
• 28:53 The cellular modem nobody questioned
• 30:51 How many air gaps have you seen?
• 34:38 The historian under the tablecloth
• 36:31 What do you do with packet capture?
• 39:50 The air gap myth
• 46:04 Two different runbooks
• 49:50 Who defends the sites that can't pay?
• 53:57 Where to find Erin and EVR:RDY
• 55:20 Outro

About the guest

Erin Burns is an Army veteran with roughly two decades in cyber operations and defensive work, and the founder of EVR:RDY Defensive Operations Group, a company focused on affordable OT/ICS defense for critical infrastructure operators with limited budgets and resources. He came up through special forces support and early military cyber, became a cyber warrant officer, and by his account spent five years on an Army cyber team defending OT environments, on factory floors and in hard hats. He is now building EVR:RDY around that experience, with a focus on water utilities and other sites that cannot afford commercial tooling.

• EVR:RDY: https://evrrdy.com
• EVR:RDY pilot program: https://evrrdy.com/pilots
• Erin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinburns757/
• One Second After by William R. Forstchen, the novel Erin and Aaron mention

Learn more about PrOTect IT All:

Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/
The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/
This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep129/
The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/
Support the show: https://protectitallpod.com/go/support/podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PrOTectITAll
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