Lucian Niemeyer: Making Cyber Safety A Part Of Culture

The PrOTect OT Cybersecurity Podcast

Over three decades, Lucian has served in the White House, the Pentagon, and in Congress providing budget, policy, and management leadership for U.S. national security programs. He served as an Assistant Secretary of Defense managing the world’s largest real property portfolio valued at a trillion dollars. Lucian was responsible for identifying and mitigating risk to national security programs, as well as improving energy and environmental resilience, in the construction, sustainment, and modernization of facilities and related infrastructure. Lucian also served the Secretary of Defense as a strategic advisor for critical mission assurance and cybersecurity programs, as an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and in the Office of Management and Budget at the White House overseeing national security, nuclear, and intelligence programs.

From 2003 to 2014 he served on the professional staff of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services responsible for legislative and budget oversight over a wide portfolio of national security programs.

Lucian founded The Niemeyer Group, LLC in 2014, providing public and private sector clients strategic advisory services for economic and business development. He also serves as a founding Principal Director for the non-profit organization, United Coalition for Advanced Nuclear Power to promote the use of clean, safe civilian nuclear power.

Lucian is an Air Force veteran with 21 years of active and Virginia Air National Guard service. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture, from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Business Administration from The George Washington University, and a Master of National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He was also appointed a Fellow in the Society of American Military Engineers.

In this episode, Aaron and Lucian Niemeyer discuss:

• Bringing cybersecurity to OT systems
• Maintaining and improving cybersecurity
• Why seeing vulnerabilities is important
• Addressing cyber safety in society

Key Takeaways:

• In IT, systems are designed to be secure. A lot of OT systems have been around for 40 and 50 years, back when security wasn’t even a concept much less designed into the architecture.
• Cybersecurity is not just a one time thing, it needs to be maintained and it needs to be upgraded and allowed to evolve. It’s like a fitness routine, you don’t get healthier or more fit by visiting the gym only once in your life.
• Pointing out vulnerabilities in a building’s cybersecurity is a huge benefit to the owner. In the most dangerous scenario, somebody could get hurt and in other more probable scenarios, the news of a cyberattack on a building could significantly impact its value.
• We as a society need to address cyber safety the way that we look at safety in other aspects of our culture. In some areas, safety isn’t an option and we should look at cyber safety the same way.

"There are processes in place already in our society where we're rewarding good behavior. So the goal is how we can apply that to cyber safety within a building." — Lucian Niemeyer

Connect with Lucian Niemeyer:

Website: https://buildingcybersecurity.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucian-niemeyer-307aa65/

Connect with Aaron:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronccrow

Learn more about Industrial Defender:

Website: https://www.industrialdefender.com/podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/industrial-defender-inc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iDefend_ICS

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@industrialdefender7120

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