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CEO, Bill Johnson & TDI Sponsors OT Track at CS4CA | Houston, March 26-27th

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While cybercrime steadily increases in the US, the perceived complexity of data security remains a barrier for organizations to strengthen their cybersecurity strategies. Cyber risks and cybersecurity operations are complex and unique to every circumstance, therefore difficult to quantify. But ultimately, all complexities can be broken down. This is the mission of CS4CA USA 2019, returning for a 7th year to Houston in March 26th-27th 2019. IT & OT security experts unite to elucidate the most advanced cybersecurity information and policies to current and future threats jeopardizing American Critical Infrastructure.

CS4CA USA brings together IT & OT cybersecurity professionals to discuss challenges, debate critical issues and explore new ideas and concepts. Join 250+ experts from across the Oil & Gas, Energy, Utility, Water, Power & Maritime industries in Houston, Texas. The 7th annual Cyber Security for Critical Assets conference boasts a dynamic double-stream agenda with both IT & OT sessions.

TDi Technologies OT Track Sponsor |  Bill Johnson, CEO & Founder of TDi Technologies, will be speaking on the topic, ‘Leveraging Cybersecurity to Improve Operations and Situational Awareness.’

WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN US!

This invitation is complimentary, it includes access to all sessions, a copy of the presentations and 12 points for your CPD qualification. To redeem your VIP Summit Pass use code: TDI at checkout.

 

Claim Your VIP Pass

 

TDi Mentors Scouts in CyberPatriot Program | Scout Troop finishes 14th out of 900 teams nationwide

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You’d think cybersecurity would not be of any interest to high school or even middle school students – well you couldn’t be more wrong.

Scout Troop T25 is comprised of students that think cybersecurity is cool. The troop is a member of CYBERPATRIOT, the organization’s mission is to motivate students toward careers in cybersecurity and STEM. The national youth cyber defense competition is an online, tournament structured event in which teams of 2-6 students are scored on how well they identify and remediate cyber vulnerabilities and build secure virtual networks.

“Since cybersecurity is what we do at TDi Technologies, it couldn’t be a better fit than to offer our expertise, office space and equipment to help the Scout Troop T25 participate in the CyberPatriot program,” said Bill Johnson, president and CEO at TDi Technologies. “It is amazing to see such bright, attentive students excel over the years, their progress is truly commendable.”

Students compete in three divisions:

Open Division: Open to all high schools, scouting units, boys and girls clubs, home school programs, and other approved youth organizations

All Service High School Division: JROTC programs/Civil Air Patrol/Naval Sea Cadet Corps

Middle School Division: Open to teams of middle school students

Each spring, winners at the National Finals Competition are awarded scholarships, and all registered competitors are eligible to apply for internship opportunities. The competition is not only fun and exciting, it also creates a career path for today’s students, fostering continued education from high school through college and into the beginning of their careers.

2018/2019 CYBERPATRIOT participants for Scout Team T25

The high school team:

Chase Johnson
Gaultiere Delbarre
Grayson Ireland

The middle school:

Michael Fullerson
Zach Scott
Ethan Li
Daanish Varachia
Bryan Chew
Pranav Battu
Misha Rura
Max Harberer
Kimberly Henson

The Competition

Each team has two challenges during their six-hour competition period:

  • The Network Security Challenge involves finding and fixing security vulnerabilities in Windows and Linux operating systems.
  • The Cisco Networking Challenge consists of an online quiz and a virtual networking exercise based on specific training materials.
Panorama of competition image and PT.jpg

                                              Network Security Challenge                                                                               Cisco Networking Challenge

The challenges are relatively easy in the first round and become more complex as the competition continues. 

Prior to the rounds, teams download “virtual image” representations of operating systems with known flaws, or cybersecurity “vulnerabilities.”  During the rounds, teams must find the flaws while keeping computer functions (“services,” such as email) working. Team progress is recorded by a central CyberPatriot scoring system. Teams also take the online networking quiz and virtual networking exercise at the same time, which are based on assigned training materials for each round.

 

Visit Website: CYBERPATRIOT

 

 

TDi Employees Spread Holiday Cheer!

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‘Tis the Season for Giving!

This week the TDi Technologies Plano team had the opportunity to be Mr. or Mrs. Claus to many children in the local area. Each employee received a $100 Amazon gift card from the CEO, to go online and purchase their favorite toys to be given to local fire stations in Plano, Parker and Allen for unfortunate families and children.

“The holiday season is about giving, and we all wanted to spread some holiday cheer,” said Bill Johnson, president, and chief executive officer at TDi Technologies. “The employees had a fun time shopping online for their favorite gifts and as a company, we had the chance to make a difference for local families.”

 

 

TDi’s Bill Johnson Serves on Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium (CREDC) Industrial Advisory Board

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CREDC

Bill Johnson, president and chief executive officer at TDi Technologies is a member of the  Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) committee comprised of 12-20 members. The Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium (CREDC) performs multidisciplinary R&D in support of the Energy Sector Control Systems Working Group’s Roadmap of resilient Energy Delivery Systems (EDS) that focuses on the cybersecurity of EDS. CREDC addresses the cybersecurity of power grids and oil & gas refinery and pipeline operations, which has been the subject of legislation, standards, and executive actions.

There is growing awareness that the industry must move to ensure that EDS sustain critical functions in the presence of disruptive events arising from cyber attacks and misconfigurations, and to rapidly recover from disruptions to full functionality. CREDC conducts a number of research activities that address multiple Roadmap elements at a variety of Technology Readiness Levels.

The central project goal is to create a research and development ecosystem where research results lead directly to the development of applications and methodologies which are then validated in realistic contexts. The team members participate in quarterly, remote meetings with CREDC leadership and advice and offer guidance on:

  • Strategic Direction
  • Review Project Progress
  • Common on New Proposals

The following energy industry stakeholders serve on the CREDC Industrial Advisory Board:

The diverse Industry Advisory Board brings value in terms of influence on CREDC direction, exposure to a broad spectrum of emerging technologies and viewpoints from diverse corners of the industry.

For More Information About CREDC  – www. cred-c.org

About CREDC
CREDC is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate. Consortium partners include: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, Arizona State University, Dartmouth College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Old Dominion University, Oregon State University, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Rutgers University, Tennessee State University, the University of Houston, and Washington State University.

Contact CREDC

Patch Management a Constant Drain or Major Cost Savings Opportunity

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Patch management is an inglorious part of the life of admins, engineers, technicians, and support staff. It seems that the patches just keep coming faster and faster, and where they once fixed function bugs or even enable extended features, now the majority address security vulnerabilities. That’s not good news because there is a lot more pressure on getting security patches in place in a timely manner than in most other scenarios.

If you are responsible for patch management and everything is running smooth, then you probably consider patching as a rote activity. If you are responsible for a large IT environment where you feel like you’re always one step behind the patches you need to install, then you are probably feeling like a lot of the folks – frustrated.

One of the capabilities in the ConsoleWorks solution is a module called Multi-Connect. With Multi-Connect, up to 40 like devices can be patched at the same time from a single master console. Just put the devices into a group and then patch them all at the same time. What is unique about this capability is that while you may only have one master console, all devices being patched are continuously monitored so you can jump in and fix any issues on any device as needed. All patching activities in this scenario are fully recorded, making it extremely easy to provide documentation for compliance purposes and alerted on any issues that may arise.

ConsoleWorks Use Cases – Large Solaris server environment reduced the man-hours required for patching by 3x, saving them over a million dollars a year. In another scenario, a small (5) server environment drop patching and maintenance costs by over $50,000 per year.

Electric Utilities – ConsoleWorks now offers Automated Patch Analysis. A solution that greatly simplifies the process of gathering the information required for patching IT and OT devices – beyond the HMI.

Solving the Challenge of One Interface and Many Administrators

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For many privileged interfaces there can be multiple users that need to work over a single interface at the same time. Two classic examples are operating system interfaces and database administration interfaces. It is common for multiple system administrators (SAs) to be logged into an operating system performing different activities concurrently just as it is for database administrators (DBAs) to be logged into administrative DB sessions at the same time. The number of “concurrent” users can vary a lot, but in some cases exceed 50 concurrent users.

The problem is that in these scenarios it is extremely difficult to manage this concurrent activity effectively and to generate accurate information about each user as an independent set of records. More and more, organizations need real-time visibility over these concurrent user sessions with transparency, visibility, control and forensic records for each – just like ConsoleWorks has always provided for single-user sessions. However, even with ConsoleWorks managing multiple users like we would, single user sessions have historically been a real challenge.

ConsoleWorks provides the capability for multiple users to access the same privileged interface in their own private session. Multi-session creates private user sessions on demand to interfaces like operating systems and databases. User activity is recorded by individual and by all activity on a given connection target. Sessions are also private for users, no matter how many users need to access an interface at the same time. Individual (private) sessions are created as needed and then closed when work is complete to mimic the real nature of how people perform their work.

This capability extends ConsoleWorks security and compliance to multiple, concurrent users accessing the same target for different reasons – a common occurrence on operating systems, databases, and other IT assets.

 

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