Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Principal Accounting Officer, Cts
Search every verified Ashish Agrawal interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Ashish Agarwal, Director of Operational Technology at Agco, discussed the role of visibility in OT cybersecurity in an October 2024 appearance. He described visibility as a "foundational piece" of a cybersecurity program, stating that without knowing how many OT devices an organization has, it cannot produce solutions for connectivity or protection. Agarwal noted that three years prior, his organization began its cybersecurity journey with no knowledge of its OT devices and started by manually collecting data in a spreadsheet. He identified legacy technology as a challenge to attaining visibility, explaining that 15- to 20-year-old machines that work perfectly cannot communicate with current protocols, requiring solutions to convert their data. Agarwal also highlighted the next challenge as IoT devices embedding 5G adapters that vendors want direct open internet access to for maintenance, which his organization addresses by enforcing firewall routes and not allowing direct 5G or 4G connections. In a September 2023 appearance at the ET Annual Gas Conclave, Agarwal, then Managing Director & CEO of Seros Logistics, praised the event for its relevant speakers and diverse topics. He stated that hearing different perspectives and sharing one's own perspective, along with audience engagement, makes an event successful. Agarwal expressed excitement about a panel on opportunities of 60 billion dollars in the space, noting that it allows for holistic decision-making by hearing everyone's views rather than taking decisions in silos.
“Visibility is very very critical and foundation piece of cyber security program. Without knowing how many OT devices we have, we cannot produce a solution for connectivity or protect them behind the firewall or segmentation.”
“Three years back when we started our cybersecurity journey, we had no clue how many OT devices we had in our environment and started manually collecting that data in a spreadsheet, which was a good start.”
“The biggest challenge to attaining visibility is legacy technology and many machines are not even connected, requiring a lot of manual physical effort to identify those devices.”
“Understanding the business value of OT cybersecurity is critical because it not only protects assets from outside threats but also provides insights into manufacturing operations that help define better planning and execution.”
Ashish Agarwal, Director Operational Technology at Agco, discusses the foundational need for complete visibility and asset ...
Let's hear what Ashish Agarwal, Managing Director & CEO, Seros Logistics has to say about his overall experience! Discover ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Ashish Agrawal.