Episode 42 — Determine Asset Criticality: What Fails First, What Hurts Most, and Why

This episode teaches how to determine OT asset criticality using operational reality rather than guesswork, because risk decisions depend on knowing what truly matters first. You’ll learn how to rank assets based on safety impact, production dependency, environmental consequence, recoverability, and the time sensitivity of control functions, so “critical” means something measurable. We connect criticality to exam scenarios where the correct answer prioritizes protective actions for safety instrumented functions, core controllers, and key communications paths before less urgent supporting systems. You’ll also explore practical techniques like dependency mapping, walkdowns, and operator interviews that reveal hidden single points of failure, including shared power, shared networks, shared credentials, and shared engineering workstations. Troubleshooting considerations show how criticality models drift over time as plants expand, vendors change architectures, and exceptions accumulate, and how to keep the model current with periodic reviews and evidence-based updates. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.