Cyber-Informed Engineering: Moving Beyond the Firewall

Podcast: Hack the Plant (LS 35 · TOP 3% what is this?)Episode: Cyber-Informed Engineering: Moving Beyond the FirewallPub date: 2026-03-18Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationFor the last episode of season 5, host Bryson Bort sat down with Andrew Ohrt, Resilience Director at West Yost Associates. A civil engineer specializing in water infrastructure, Andrew bridges the gap between traditional engineering and digital risk. Andrew walks us through the "invisible" nature of water systems, the impact of data centers on utility resilience, and how Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) protects our most essential resource. How did a drive under a rebuilt bridge in Minneapolis pivot Andrew’s career toward critical infrastructure? Why did a single wastewater release shut down Waikiki Beach for an entire week? And what happens when a cybersecurity team finds a client’s PLC exposed on the open internet? “To me, the integration of understanding cyber or digital risk in our critical infrastructure, the engineers picking that understanding up, building awareness, building skill sets, figuring out how to manage that risk, is one of the most important things that we've been working on,” he said. Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plan[e]t.  The views and opinions expressed in this podcast represent those of the speaker, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of their employers.  Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology. The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bryson Bort, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.