Transcript 0:01 [upbeat music] Welcome back to the Peggy Smedley Show, the voice of MDM and Connected Devices. [upbeat music] Hello listeners, and welcome back to the Peggy Smedley Show. I'm sitting in the studio with Eddie Habibi. 0:17 He is the CEO and founder of PAS, and we've been talking about what's happening in the industrial sector right now in manufacturing. Eddie, welcome back to the show. Thank you. Thank you, Peggy. 0:27 You know, it's great to have you sitting here. 0:29 You know, we were talking about we've known each other for years, and it's kind of fun to kind of just talk about what's happening in manufacturing because so much has changed, right? I mean, that's- Absolutely. 0:38 -the exciting part of it. 0:39 And when-- Just before the commercial break, we were actually just talking about what's really happening, that manufacturers are embracing the Internet of Things, and basically we're talking about it's a bottom-line profitability thing now. 0:50 And we're talking about for them, here's a chance for them to leverage the IoT and use it as something that will give them a chance to improve where things might have been tough, and now they could see it as something that says, "Here's where you're going to make some money." 1:05 Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. The industrial sector is very familiar with industrial, uh, with the Internet of Things. Of course, we now refer to it as the Industrial Internet of Things. 1:17 And the concept has been around for a long time, even prior to the adaptation of the internet in the industrial sector on the manufacturing floor. What has happened, though, over the years, 1:30 the cost of sensors have gone down, which is the basic element of, of IoT. Uh, communications have become more ubiquitous, and computers have become even more powerful. 1:40 So the industry is continuing to find ways to leverage IoT and the benefits of it to optimize and improve safety. 1:50 So when we look at that, when we're looking at improving safety, security, are they succeeding at that, or are they not succeeding at that? Absolutely. 1:58 There has been tremendous benefits over the last, uh, thirty, forty years since the advent of the modern, uh, control systems. 2:07 And the benefits come, uh, in, in, in a variety of areas that include productivity improvement. I remember personally, uh, when I worked at a refinery about twenty, twenty-two years ago, uh, there... 2:19 at this particular mid-sized refinery in the, in the Houston area, there were eighteen hundred employees. Today, that same refinery has greater capacity, crude capacity, with about half the number of people. 2:33 And a lot of that is due to, uh, benefits of, uh, IT and, uh, OT, operational technology, control systems, automation, and IoT has had a great, uh, deal of, uh, impact in that arena. 2:49 The, the, the thing that, uh, I have to point out is I grew up in the controls environment, the controls, uh, industry, process controls industry, and sensors, communication, and controls or, or computers were an essential part of automating the process plan. 3:06 It's only in, in the recent years that we have started referring to it as Internet of Things because of the integration through the internet and broader networks. 3:17 When we look at that, though, we've heard so many people get upset saying we've seen the elimination of jobs as we've automated that plant floor. 3:24 But haven't we also created that new opportunity when we say there's new jobs that are created? And automation is always going to eliminate. 3:32 When we've heard the number two million, five million, and now we're talking about robots coming in, and they're going to even eliminate more jobs and-- but that's what automation does, but it creates a new opportunity to learn new skills. 3:43 Isn't that correct? Absolutely. I totally agree. I think, uh, I, I'm, I'm a student of history. I love to, to learn what has happened in the past. 3:54 Uh, one of the lessons learned in not adopting automation in the int-interest of preserving jobs was Mao-- what Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Revolution did post, uh, the, the Chinese Revolution in '48. 4:09 Uh, they decided that they have so many people, they didn't wanna mechanize their farms, and we saw what happened there. And now you see what has happened when the Chinese have adopted technology and automation. 4:23 They have become a compelling power in, in the world. Well, the same concept applies to any nation in the world. Automation is good. Automation is not evil. Automation does eliminate manual work. 4:38 However, it creates many more value-added work at higher salaries, and, uh, i-i-in general, it helps us run safer productions and more profitable. Let's talk about the security side. 4:53 This is what we were talking just before the break, and we're saying now, though, we also have, you know, the bad guys out there, that every time we connect something to the web, uh, it-- the internet is just not a safe place. 5:05 And as much as we try to do everything we can, there's always someone out there who's trying just as hard to break our barriers. What do we do as manufacturers to try to fend off those attacks? 5:18 I think you hit the nail on the head, recognizing that the bad guys are out there. And we have to be successful a hundred percent of the time to protect against cyberattacks. 5:31 The bad guys have to be successful only one time, and they get in, and they cause damage. So the first thing is to recognize that the threat to the industrial sector is real. 5:42 And, uh, all you have to do is look at the recent, uh, news on the attacks on the nation state, attacks on the Ukrainian power grid, uh, the attacks on the US, uh, nuclear, uh, facilities here in our next door. 6:00 And you have to wonderWhere are these attacks are generating from, and, uh, and what is the intent? Is this just a testing period where they get in and they try their weapons for future use? 6:14 So the first thing that industrial sector needs to do, as well as the, the US government and other, and, and other coun-- uh, governments of the world need to do, is recognize that cybersecurity on the industrial sector is a threat. 6:28 It is a real threat. It's no longer a threat on information, it's a threat on the physical assets of a country, and it must be taken seriously. 6:38 The second thing that companies need to do is they need to adopt a culture of security. What is a culture of security? 6:46 I remember when I started in the industry, I could walk into any plant without escort, without my hard hat on, and, and walk about. Over time, 6:59 and based on the leadership of many of these, uh, processing companies, oil and gas companies, we have developed a culture of safety where people behave in a safe manner. 7:11 We post at the entry to every, uh, processing facility, oil and gas facility, number of days since the last safety incident. My measure, my metric for recognizing when we have adopted 7:25 a culture of security is when you walk into a facility, an industrial facility of whatever sort, and you see a sign that says, "A hundred and twenty days since last security incident." 7:38 And you see people aware, and they can give you their pitch on security. So that's the second thing companies they, they, uh, uh, companies can do. 7:47 The third thing manufacturers, uh, processing facilities have to do is recognize what they have. Know what assets you have, what cyber assets you have. If you don't know it, you can't protect it. 7:59 It's almost like your house. Before you can put an alarm system on your house, you have to know what doors you have, how many doors, how many windows you have, so you know where to put your alarm systems. 8:10 You have to make sure y-they, they are secure. So the same concept applies to the industrial control systems. You have to know the inventory of what you have. And are-- shouldn't they be backing that up? 8:22 Because at any time we... I, I can bet right now that almost every company has had some kind of penetration somewhere, and they know some kind of a leak has occurred, something. 8:32 And, uh, should they be backing up, doing the right things? Because we see these ransomware attacks are really getting ugly. 8:39 I mean, they're-- these bad guys are so vicious, they'll go after the police, they'll go after anyone. They don't care. 8:44 I mean, we, we all saw just what happened with HBO and, you know, we all go, "Well, look, if they'll go..." They're bold and vicious enough to say it's just-- it's not, it's a challenge to them. And so as... 8:56 But if it attacks a refinery or they attack a infrastructure, our water system, we're, we're in pretty serious... 9:03 You know, we worry about our financials, but something like that could be devastating, and that's what we need to be thinking about right now in the companies that you're talking about. Absolutely. 9:13 Not only the companies have to worry about that, because it affects their bottom line, uh, the public as well as the government needs to look at a serious threat. 9:23 Uh, if you notice over the last few weeks, uh, the drums of war have been beaten over the Cor-- North Korean, uh, desire for nuclear weapons. 9:35 And rightly so, we have to be concerned and rally around, uh, taking measures to, to deal with that. I believe the same threats exist in the cyber arena, uh, because attacks on the critical infrastructure 9:54 lay the framework for the future weapons of war that are stealth, you can't monitor them from satellites, uh, that can be just as deadly as any bomb without ever firing a weapon. 10:10 And that's the thing I think we, we need to... We've got about a minute left, and then we're gonna take another break, and if you're able, we're gonna c-continue on with what we talked about here. 10:18 But I think the interesting part with all of this is I think sometimes we forget the seriousness of we know it can happen, we know the bad guys are there, and we say, "Well, we're just gonna kinda do our thing," but are we prepared if it should happen? 10:33 What do we do if an attack happens? 10:35 And I think that's what I wanna talk to you about after our break, because I want you to think about that because I think some companies haven't thought about what do they do when an attack happens. 10:43 Because that's what I think is the next stage we need to give thought about is, what do we do if, and how do we address it to the public? 'Cause you're right, our public is... 10:53 And, and that affects all of us, and we need... 10:55 Right now we think about North Korea and their craziness right now, but that is pretty serious, and sometimes you don't even wanna turn on the news because it's kind of frightening. So let's take a quick break. 11:05 Listeners, we're gonna take a quick break, and we want you to stick around, and we're talking to Eddie Habibi. He is the CEO and founder of PAS, and, uh, we want you to... 11:14 Eddie, your URL quickly so they can check it out. PAS.com. Real simple. All right, very simple. 11:19 We're enjoying the conversation, and while we're on a quick break, you can check out his website, or as always, check out connectedworld.com, or you can tweet at us, @Peggy_Smedley or ConnectedWMass. 11:31 We'll be right back right after this commercial break. [gentle music] IV therapy. Holistic. Biofeedback. Integrative. Physical training. Multiple modalities. Decompression. Personalized. Hyperbaric oxygen. 11:44 Forward thinking. Ozone. Mind- Colonics... and body. Acupuncture. Personalized. Experience. Experienced. Progressive Medical. ProgressiveMedicalCenter.com. Progressive Medical. This is your life. 12:01 Live it wellDid you know the majority of radio listeners are between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-four, have a household income of more than one hundred thousand dollars, are classified as executives or professionals, and share the show they listen to? 12:17 Become part of The Peggy Smedley Show to reach listeners looking for information on connected devices through cost-effective radio commercials or segment sponsorships. 12:25 Contact us at six three zero nine three three zero eight four four for more information, or visit peggysmedleyshow.com. [upbeat music] Education, industry experts, back to the basics. 12:37 Is your company using the Internet of Things to its fullest potential? Enlist the Peggy Smedley Institute and its team of experts to create a customized plan for how to apply the IoT to your specific needs. 12:48 Learn everything you need to know to achieve tangible business outcomes in today's digital economy. Contact us at six three zero nine three three zero eight four four. 12:58 That's six three zero nine three three zero eight four four, or visit learnatIoT.com. [upbeat music] With great technology comes great responsibility. 13:09 Follow Internet of Things tech expert and futurist Peggy Smedley, repeatedly ranked as a top IoT and M2M influencer. 13:17 Go to Peggy underscore Smedley on Twitter for her take on the latest tech news and lively interviews with other industry insiders on her weekly radio show. 13:27 Visit twitter.com and search for Peggy underscore Smedley to follow her today. [upbeat music] Attention coaches, authors, speakers, and business owners. 13:37 Please pay close attention to what I'm about to say if you want to secure massive visibility fast and generate thousands of highly qualified leads without spending a dime on advertising or marketing. 13:49 The easiest way to make this happen is to appear as a guest on the world's most popular podcast. 13:54 We recently came across an awesome resource that provides detailed contact information for two hundred and forty new media influencers who are looking for guests just like you. 14:05 It's called the Ultimate Directory, and for a limited time, you can get the preview edition of the directory absolutely free. That's right, for free. 14:13 It's time for you to get the visibility you and your business deserve and connect with the world's leading icons of influence who can make you famous with the push of a button. 14:21 Get your free preview edition of the Ultimate Directory right now at www.myultimatedirectory.com. That's myultimatedirectory.com. [upbeat music] Hi, SCALE listener. 14:36 This is David Finkel, co-host with Jeff Hoffman of SCALE Your Business. I wanted to let you know that our newest book, SCALE, was just released and to encourage you to get your copy. 14:45 The book will give you seven proven principles to grow your business and get your life back. SCALE will help you work less by getting your business to produce more. Get your copy online or at your local bookseller. 14:58 For more information, visit us online at scaleyourbusinesstoolkit.com.
