Bryan Owen Awarded 2020 Michael J. Assante ICS Security Lifetime Achievement Award

BETHESDA, Md., March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SANS Institute, the global leader in cyber security training and certifications, today announced that Bryan Owen has been named the 2020 recipient of the Michael J. Assante ICS Security Lifetime Achievement Award. Assante was a pioneer in ICS Cyber Security and worked with SANS Institute to establish the SANS ICS Security Summit now in its 15^th year. Together with Alan Paller, he helped focus attention on an area of cybersecurity that has the potential to affect critical infrastructure and human life and safety but was largely being unaddressed. In the same vein, this year's winner, Bryan Owen exemplifies similar attributes by contributing to the ongoing important work of protecting the world's critical infrastructure through his participation in cyber security standards working groups and being a frequent speaker and advisory board member for various ICS/OT focused conferences and events. Bryan has consistently demonstrated that he is an enabler and a bridge builder for his organization and the industry at large.    

"Bryan has worked within the ICS industry for over 35 years and started with OSIsoft almost 25 years ago. Think about that for a minute, consider the vast number of organizations Bryan has worked with across practically every critical infrastructure sector. Consider the facilities and operating environments that he has had the opportunity to learn and integrate with. Consider the projects he has shaped to deliver operational data in a way that enables the business to act intelligently and improve. Consider the people that he has had the opportunity to educate and influence throughout his career,"  said Tim Conway, ICS Curriculum Lead at the SANS Institute. "I have had the opportunity to see how those unique perspectives have shaped Bryan's thinking around securing and defending ICS environments, and how he has taken those career experiences and used them to truly shape industrial cybersecurity perspectives all over the globe. It is amazing to see what Bryan has done to shape the ICS community and I am thankful for the great work he will certainly continue to do."   

Ted Gutierrez, SANS ICS Curriculum Director, added, "Bryan's rare mix of understanding engineering principals, IT/OT cyber security best practices, and the role of regulatory standards and security frameworks gives him a unique perspective. His willingness to share that prospective and the learnings that come from his working in diverse industries have greatly benefited the broader ICS community."       

Bryan Owen is Security Architect and Professional Engineer at OSIsoft LLC, makers of the PI System. He is an ambassador for advancing state of the art practices for industrial software security and critical infrastructure protection. Bryan is also active in public/private partnerships through collaboration with DHS CISA, DoE National Laboratories and other Supply Chain Security Working Groups. He serves on industry advisory boards and is a voting member for ISA99 standards. His experience includes 15 years in the field as a process control engineer prior to joining OSIsoft. Bryan is a professional engineer dedicated to the betterment of human welfare.

About The SANS ICS Lifetime Achievement Award
The Michael J. Assante ICS Security Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have contributed exceptional efforts to enhance the security of ICS on an international scale, and who actively strive to bridge the gap between IT and OT. Through education contributions to the community, they've significantly increased the awareness of risks to ICS and fostered the idea that cyber secure ICS implementations and defense in ICS are achievable.

For more information on The Michael J. Assante ICS Security Lifetime Achievement Award, please visit: https://ics.sans.org/awards/ics-lifetime-achievement-award

About Michael J. Assante
Michael Assante was the founder of the ICS curriculum, ICS & SCADA Lead, and Director of Industrials and Infrastructure at SANS Institute. As a leader in the ICS security community for more than 20 years, Mike brought a focused passion for securing organizations that make, move, and power our world. He also served as a Senior Associate with the Strategic Technologies Program for CSIS. Prior to joining SANS, Assante served as VP and CSO at American Electric Power, was a strategist at the Idaho National Labs, and the first CSO at NERC. He testified on cybersecurity matters before the US House and Senate and was an initial member of the Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency. Assante also co-led the international steering committee that created the most widely respected industrial control systems security skills certification program, the GICSP. His work in ICS security was widely recognized and was selected by his peers as the winner of Information Security Magazine's Security Leadership Award for his efforts as a strategic thinker. The RSA 2005 Conference awarded him its Outstanding Achievement Award in the practice of security within an organization. Mike's influence on the ICS community continues as the SANS ICS team works to implement his vision of leading the way for workforce development in the field of ICS and SCADA security.

About SANS Institute
The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals at governments and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach over 60 different courses at more than 200 live cyber security training events as well as online. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates a practitioner's qualifications via over 35 hands-on, technical certifications in cyber security. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's degrees in cyber security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system--the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community. (https://www.sans.org)

SOURCE SANS Institute

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