Retrospective Industrial Cyber Security event 2021

Cybercrime, hackers and insufficiently secured networks, it also plays tricks on the industry. During the Industrial Cyber Security event, all aspects of securing the OT side were discussed.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

The day started with an inspiring lecture by Jacco van der Kolk of the Digital Trust Center. He explained how the organization has developed a tool to help industrial companies increase cyber resilience. FHI spoke to him earlier.

The second keynote was given by Johan Rambi, Group Security Officer associated with animal feed company ForFarmers. Rambi provided insight into how this company responds to current cyber threats and how good cooperation with numerous parties can strengthen the defense lines of the Dutch industry. (Also read our interview with Rambi).

Then it was time for the different tracks during the Industrial Cyber Security events. During the lectures of Actemium and Axians – 'hack the snack' – pancakes were baked to provide insight into how a production line of an imaginary pancake factory can be attacked. Despite the delicious smell of freshly baked pancakes, the audience continued to listen attentively to how, for example, Kali Linux can be used for pentests.

Jerry Zwanenburg, senior security engineer at Tenable Network Security Netherlands, gave an interesting lecture on current trends and developments in software and network vulnerabilities. He specifically pointed out the danger of ransomware and the fact that some industrial networks are insufficiently protected.

OT-specific approach

Yuri Nijdam (Modelec Data-Industrie), Martin Jenkner (Moxa Europe GmbH) and Fokke Dijksma (Thales) provided a two-part session explaining the specific challenges in properly securing OT environments, highlighting various cases. Furthermore, Frank Pijnenburg (Royal DSM) and Ruud Welschen (Siemens Netherlands) gave a seminar on how OT security can be approached pragmatically.

The successful edition of the event was concluded with a very interesting lecture by the Dutch Police. They gave, with the necessary humor, insight into how the investigative services managed to take over Hansa Market, a trading place on the dark web, and follow traders for a month.

With over three hundred attendees and a broadly based program, the ICS event was once again a success. And with cyber threats constantly lurking, it is good to keep the knowledge of the IA members up to date.