The ISA OT Cybersecurity Summit, held in June 2026 in Prague, brought together cybersecurity leaders, engineers, policymakers and industry practitioners around a shared priority to strengthen the cyber resilience of operational technology (OT).
In this episode of Podomation, the official podcast of the International Society of Automation (ISA), listeners can find a few major highlights from the first day of this year’s OT Cybersecurity Summit. Podomation Episode 010: OT Cybersecurity Summit Day One includes excerpts of remarks from Claire Fallon, CEO of ISA, and Berta Jarošová, cyber attachée to the United States and Canada at the US Embassy of the Czech Republic, as well as conversations from the Cyber Empowerment Forum, moderated by Megan Samford, vice president of product and supply chain security at Schneider Electric.
What is Podomation?
Podomation is ISA's podcast showcasing top subject-matter experts in the industrial automation community. Its guests speak on a broad range of topics that matter to automation professionals, including industry 4.0, digital transformation, manufacturing and machine control, instrumentation, connectivity, OT cybersecurity and continuous and batch processing.
Some episodes (including this one) are recorded live during ISA events, and others are recorded in studio. Each podcast conversation highlights the role of automation in making the world a better place — and the impact our community has across industries.
Podomation Episode 010: OT Cybersecurity Summit Day One
ISA CEO Claire Fallon opened the OT Cybersecurity Summit this year by recognizing ISA’s long history in cybersecurity standardization. ISA established the ISA99 committee in 2001, which led to the internationally recognized ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards. ISA’s cybersecurity work has expanded through training, certification, ISASecure® conformity assessment and the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA).
Fallon described a shifting modern cybersecurity environment that requires sustained collaboration among stakeholders, including technology providers, asset owners, governments, educators and cybersecurity professionals.
The Cyber Empowerment Forum, in addition to welcoming Megan Samford as moderator, featured Cheri Caddy of Savannah River National Laboratory, Berta Jarošová of Women4Cyber Czechia and Tatiana Bolton of the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Coalition.
The forum discussion focused on practical steps for embedding cybersecurity throughout OT environments, developing a cyber-informed engineering workforce, preparing for AI-enabled threats and strengthening international cooperation.
Bolton identified funding and adoption as central priorities for OT security. The cybersecurity community has developed strong frameworks and expertise. Now, as she said, organizations must be empowered to apply those resources consistently across critical infrastructure.
She also highlighted the importance of baseline cybersecurity expectations. Contracts, supply-chain relationships and industry guidance can establish a minimum standard of care for asset owners, suppliers and system integrators. Shared expectations create stronger protections across an increasingly connected industrial ecosystem.
In the forum, Jarošová also addressed the influence of global events on OT cyber risk. Critical infrastructure organizations must be able to support rapid decision-making. For national cyber agencies, identifying the targeted organization quickly and sharing useful indicators of compromise can be essential during active threats.
International cooperation helps enable this work. Working in partnership with US agencies, including through ransomware notification efforts, the Czech Republic has identified potential targets and provided actionable information to affected organizations. Connections like these can help defenders act before incidents escalate.
Caddy emphasized the importance of bringing cybersecurity into engineering practice. Electrical, mechanical, civil, nuclear and software engineers all contribute to the systems that power essential services, and their decisions affect security posture.
As the industrial world grows more connected all the time, engineers need education, tools and established processes that support cybersecurity and privacy throughout the system lifecycle. Caddy described cybersecurity as an engineering problem set that calls for the same disciplined approaches engineers apply in other technical fields.
The panel also explored the continued and accelerating convergence of IT and OT. Artificial intelligence and sensor-rich devices are expanding the number of systems that organizations need to secure. Security, safety, privacy and resilience must be considered early, supporting the concept of “secure by design.” Preparedness also depends on relationships established before an incident occurs. Exercises create opportunities to clarify roles, identify communication gaps, share expertise and refine response processes. OT resilience and preparedness now feature prominently in exercises at the national, European Union and NATO levels.
AI remains a major area of focus for industrial cybersecurity, which the forum addressed. Bolton encouraged organizations to test how AI may affect their OT systems and client environments. AI can enhance security capabilities and accelerate adversary activity, creating new demands for monitoring, architecture, assessment and response.
Traditional practices such as annual risk assessments and vulnerability scoring require continued review as threat conditions evolve faster. Resilient OT architectures can support stronger defense through segmentation, secure remote access, rapid detection and measures that protect the most critical operational outcomes.
This episode of Podomation closed with excerpts from Berta Jarošová’s keynote on transatlantic cyber cooperation. Joint cybersecurity advisories developed by US, European, Indo-Pacific and Five Eyes partners provide public, actionable insight into cyber actors, tactics, incidents and threats. These advisories reflect growing operational alignment among cybersecurity agencies and give organizations useful information for their own defenses.
Jarošová also highlighted the Czech Republic’s growing cybersecurity ecosystem. Prague and Brno bring together national cyber capabilities, technical universities, research institutions, AI-focused laboratories and global industry investment to support innovation, workforce development and threat analysis.
Listen to the full conversation
The OT Cybersecurity Summit is a must-attend event that demonstrates exactly how and why cybersecurity is foundational for safe and reliable industrial operations. Mark your calendars for next year’s summit, scheduled for 16-17 June 2027 in Athens, Greece.
To hear more of the speakers’ thoughts from this year in Prague, please visit Podomation or search for “Podomation” wherever you listen to podcasts.
Ready for the next episode of Podomation?
Make sure to subscribe on your podcast platform of choice to get access to new episodes as soon as they’re ready. Podomation is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many more. If you enjoy these discussions, please leave us a review on any of these platforms. You can also play back episodes here any time.
