On April 1, 2026, Dr. Darrell Eilts, CIO of the Sewage and Water Board of New Orleans, and I will be guests on the Grid Podcast. This discussion will not focus on IT/OT convergence. Instead, we will address a more fundamental issue: the need for true collaboration between engineering and network security. Network impacts are data failures whereas control system impacts (whether unintentional or malicious) result in physical impacts. Engineering/network security collaboration is not simply an extension of IT/OT convergence – it is a clash of cultures. It is reflected in professional engagement as well as relatively few engineers attend cybersecurity conferences, and relatively few cybersecurity professionals attend engineering conferences. On the podcast, Darrell and I will discuss issues we identified in our upcoming paper, “Packets and Process: What Network Security and Engineering Get Wrong About Each Other,” to be published in the June 2026 issue of IEEE Computer magazine. Darrell will outline why network security professionals often struggle to engage with engineering, while I will address why engineers are often reluctant to work with network security. The bottom line is straightforward: no infrastructure can be truly cyber secure when the culture is broken. Without effective collaboration between engineering and network security, gaps will persist. The podcast can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@thegridpodcast777 and the tape will be available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/IwjBQIH6zaM?si=wtocJoE15I9u7U0p. We hope you will join us and bring your questions to the discussion.
https://www.controlglobal.com/blogs/unfettered/blog/55367315/how-to-close-the-cultural-gap-between-engineering-and-network-security
