The Critical Lowdown EPS Global

In Part 2 of our two part series on the challenges of network security in IT and OT environments, Chris Bihary, CEO of Garland Technology along John Lynch, Director of Sales for EMEA for EPS Global, speak about the concept of a Zero Trust Framework, as well as the strategies for securing the entire network.

Cyber Attacks on critical infrastructure have been on the rise for the last decade, accelerated in recent years by the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In 2021, approximately 90 percent of manufacturing organizations had their production or energy supply hit by some form of cyberattack.

It's no longer enough to have a moat around your servers — the proverbial castle approach. The barbarians, as cyber criminals are often depicted, are not just at the gates; they're already inside the castle, seeking a moment of distraction to launch their assault. Amid this backdrop, one of the biggest challenges is this: how to safeguard the giant technologies at these interfaces from relentless cyber threats?

In part 1 of this 2 part series, our Director of Sales for EMEA, John Lynch, sat down with Chris Bihary, CEO and CO-FOUNDER of Garland Technology, an industry leader of IT and OT network solutions for enterprise, critical infrastructures, and government agencies worldwide.

Chris Bihary, CEO and Co-founder of Garland Technology, has been in the network performance industry for over 20 years. Bihary has established collaborative partnerships with technology companies to complement product performance and security through the integration of network TAP visibility.

John Lynch is the Director of Sales for EMEA Networking for EPS Global. He serves on its Board of Directors and been with the Company since its inception in 1999. John has managed the growth of the EMEA Networking business over the last 15 years. Prior to joining EPS, John worked in a technical role for IBM supporting their Spanish market out of their Dublin office. John has a BA in Politics and Spanish from University College Dublin and a Diploma in Financial Management from the Dublin Business School.

The rapid advancement of digital technologies has led to an unprecedented increase in network demands. Network operators face the ongoing challenges of providing scalability and introducing new services while reducing costs. IP Infusion is leading the charge to provide these solutions. IP Infusion deliver open, standards-based solutions that span from the edge of the network, through the transport layer to multi-cloud environments.
On this episode of the Critical Lowdown, our Head of Technical for EMEA, Barry McGinley sat down with IP Infusion’s Vince Schuele, Director of Technical Solutions for Partners in EMEA and India, to talk about their latest innovation, the expansion of the feature set for the Data Center with the OcNOS 6.3 release.

VINCE SCHUELE
DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS FOR PARTNERS (EMEA AND INDIA), IP INFUSION

Vince Schuele is the Director of Technical Solutions for Partners in EMEA and India at IP Infusion. He began his career in the US military, where he helped build NATO networks in Europe and spent eight years as a Signal Officer. His experience includes working as a systems integrator, a consulting network architect, and managing satellite communication nodes for US Army Europe. Schuele has also worked on large scale MPLS deployments, secure Data Center deployments, and coalition networking. His time in service concluded with advising on and deploying security strategy for the United States European Command. Currently, his main focus is on service provider and enterprise Data Center deployments. Schuele is passionate about open and disaggregated networking space and is excited to be a leader in the field with IP Infusion.

BARRY MCGINLEY
SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER, EPS GLOBAL

Barry McGinley, Senior Systems Engineer at EPS Global is based in Dublin, Ireland and provides the first layer of tech support all customers in EMEA.
Barry works on POCs for Data Centre, Service Provider and Enterprise deployments and leads the adoption of new bare metal hardware for carrier and telecom applications. Barry has in-depth expertise of the disaggregated networking landscape covering all of the open-source and commercial software and hardware on the market. He is a sought-after speaker on the topic, and is the author of a popular tech blog on epsglobal.com. He is an avid Celtic supporter and partial to a pint of Guinness.
Barry has a BSc in Networking Applications and Services from TU Dublin.

June 20th is World Wifi Day. World WiFi Day 2023 celebrates innovations and new projects that help bridge the digital divide worldwide. The goal is to improve consumer access in broadband-deprived areas in both developed and developing countries. One such innovation is Open Wi-Fi, a groundbreaking initiative from the Telecom Infra Project. It's more than just a technology; it's a movement that aims to democratize internet access, particularly in areas lacking broadband connectivity, in both developed and developing countries.

New latency-sensitive applications like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) are driving demand for fast, reliable connectivity. The combination of high-density WiFi 6, WiFi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7 offers service providers a powerful toolkit to deliver ubiquitous, always-on connectivity. Open Wi-Fi plays a pivotal role in this ecosystem.

In this bonus episode of The Critical Lowdown, we delve into what Open WiFi is, or more importantly is not, and its potential to revolutionize connectivity. So, sit back, relax, and join us as we look at how Open Wi-Fi is contributing to the mission of World Wi-Fi Day and the potential of this new technology.

“Organizations should have started implementing security measures yesterday, given that new product introductions often take 9 months or more to produce in volume”.

In Part 2 of The Building Blocks for IOT Security, our panel of experts emphasizes the importance of making IoT security more accessible and consumable for engineers and designers, as well as the need for collaboration among industry players to tackle security challenges for connected devices.

This episode covers the increasing number of cybersecurity regulations worldwide, the need for a proactive approach, and the key role organizations like EPS Global, NXP, IAR, and Future Electronics are playing in providing practical and accessible security solutions for volume production of connected devices.

"If it's not safe, it's not smart". Listen Now.

Malcolm Kitchen, FAE for Secure Trust Provisioning, EPS Global
John Moor, Managing Director, IoT Security Foundation;
Haydn Povey, Chief Strategy Officer, IAR Systems;
Stella Or, Software Partner Manager for Secure Connect Edge, NXP;
Todd Baker, Corporate VP of Worldwide Engineering, Future Electronics.

For the past decade, manufacturers have been rushing to fulfill the promise of the Internet of Things. The deployment of 5G, which enabled smartphones and smartwatches, has led the way for smart fridges, smart vacuums, smart pacemakers, smart security, and a whole host of connected consumer products.

By the end of 2022, there were an estimated 7 billion IoT devices in the world, each one packed with software. This exponential growth has presented opportunities to malign actors to exploit potential weaknesses for criminal gains. According to Microsoft's 2022 Digital Defense Report, IoT devices are the key entry point for many attacks. In December 2022, the CEO of Zurich Insurance, Mario Greco, said that cyberattacks could pose a larger threat to insurers than systemic issues like pandemics and climate change, and as a result, could become uninsurable.

2022 is seen by many experts as the inflection point for IoT security, and governments have begun to protect individuals, businesses, and key infrastructure. Last year on The Critical Lowdown, we predicted that 2023 would be the year of IoT security, and so it has proved. In the UK, the PSTI Act has passed into law, the EU Cyber Resilience Act is progressing in Brussels, and the US IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 has been bolstered by new cybersecurity measures in the 2022 Appropriations Bill. The legislation is tightening, and the consequences are getting even more significant.

To navigate this complex security ecosystem, we have assembled a panel of the industry's foremost experts to discuss the legislation, threats, technology, distribution, and solutions.

Malcolm Kitchen, FAE for Secure Trust Provisioning, EPS Global
John Moor, Managing Director, IoT Security Foundation;
Haydn Povey, Chief Strategy Officer, IAR Systems;
Stella Or, Software Partner Manager for Secure Connect Edge, NXP;
Todd Baker, Corporate VP of Worldwide Engineering, Future Electronics.