CyManII hosts inaugural OT cybersecurity for critical infrastructure training at Cyber Range
Professionals responsible for protecting critical infrastructure gathered recently for an Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity training session hosted by the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) in partnership with Texas Cyber Command (TXCC).
The Joint Defense Exercise initiative, held at CyManII’s Cyber Range at UT San Antonio, focused on addressing the growing risks facing Texas critical infrastructure.
“There are many unique cybersecurity challenges posed by OT environments that impact the real world,” said Ed McCormick, Regional Innovation Officer of CyManII’s Lone Star Cyber Forge, a global epicenter for cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing technologies. “OT systems directly affect how infrastructure functions and make cyber incidents potentially disruptive or even dangerous.”
Critical infrastructure partners included San Antonio Water System, CPS Energy, Chevron, Buc-ee’s, the Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative (GVEC), and state and federal agencies.
The training was presented by Vincent Rendon, CyManII Operational Technology Instructor, and Joe Mallen, Assistant Director of Experiential Learning.
Vice Admiral Timothy James “TJ” White, Chief of the TXCC, was also in attendance and spoke about Texas House Bill 150 and its implications for the state’s cybersecurity posture.
“We have a mission on behalf of the state to get after cyber readiness and cyber security resiliency,” said White. “We want to deliver outcomes that we can measure with positive effects and in good faith with good data across Texas.”
Jason Dean, a security engineer with Buc-ee’s, attended the training session to help ensure his company remains aligned with evolving industry standards and best practices.
“With more OT devices coming online, we want to make sure that we’re segmenting our networking properly,” said Dean. “A training session like this has been great to network with people and develop industry contacts. The fact that governmental agencies are attending is one of the big things that brought me here.”
Neel Mehta, cyber incident response analyst with Chevron, joined the training to learn more about CyManII and the TXCC. He said he CyManII’s training provided a “realistic, hands‑on walk through of alert triage through incident response” using real‑world technologies.
“The guided workflow and open discussions highlighted shared contemporary challenges, discovered optimization opportunities, and ecosystem maturity next steps in an engaging session,” said Mehta said.
The session marked the first step in what will be an ongoing series and provided valuable insight that will help shape future sessions. Moving forward, CyManII is committed to refining and expanding these training courses and tailoring the material for specific audiences and real-world needs. CyManII wants to make every session as relevant and engaging as possible for the wide range of professionals attending them.
