The Role of Cyber Security in the Energy Sector : Javier García Quintela, CISO at RepSol

Resilience: Voices in Cyber Security

In this episode of the Resilience Podcast, Javier Garcia-Quintela, the CISO of Spanish energy giant, Repsol, discusses his personal journey into cybersecurity and the importance of building relationships and collaboration within the industry. He also addresses the energy sector's challenges, including the lack of cybersecurity skills and the growing number of threats. Additionally, he talks about the impact of regulations on cybersecurity and the role of AI in the energy sector.

Takeaways

• Building relationships and collaboration are key in cybersecurity, both within the organization and with external stakeholders.
• The energy sector faces challenges such as the lack of cybersecurity skills and the growing number of threats, including those targeting operational technology (OT) environments.
• Regulations, such as NIST, SEC, and NERC, are increasing the responsibility and accountability of cybersecurity incidents at the board level.
• AI has the potential to play a significant role in optimizing operations, making better decisions, and improving personal productivity in the energy sector.
• The Purdue model for OT environments, which emphasizes segmentation and isolation, is facing challenges with the increasing need for connectivity and efficiency.
• Misconfigurations and human errors can create vulnerabilities in both IT and OT networks, allowing threat actors to exploit them.