Offshore oil and gas operations don't have the luxury of simply shutting everything down and starting over.
In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow sits down with Josh Herr and Matt McLendon to explore the real-world challenges of modernizing cybersecurity and technology in offshore operational technology (OT) environments.
From million-dollar equipment and aging control systems to virtualization, containers, and edge computing, this conversation reveals what it actually takes to keep critical industrial operations running when technology fails, hardware is difficult to replace, and downtime can come at an enormous cost.
Aaron, Josh, and Matt share stories from the field, including the creative decisions operators sometimes have to make to keep one rig running when another goes down. They also explore the gradual shift from legacy Windows and Sun workstations toward Linux, containerization, and newer approaches to managing industrial systems.
But this isn't simply a conversation about replacing old technology with new technology. It's about understanding the realities of OT cybersecurity, where reliability, availability, safety, cost, and security all have to work together.
Key Learning:
- Why offshore OT environments present unique cybersecurity challenges
- How legacy systems continue to influence modern industrial operations
- Why containers and virtualization are gaining ground in OT
- How operators balance cybersecurity with uptime and reliability
- The surprising realities of maintaining aging industrial hardware
- What the shift from Windows to Linux can mean for OT environments
- How creative problem-solving can keep critical operations running
- Where AI, containers, and modern infrastructure could take OT next
Key Moments:
06:16 Frustrations with vendor costs and delays
09:34 Offshore connectivity and autonomy challenges
13:02 Managing power plants across Texas
16:19 Challenges with industrial HMIs and alarms
19:40 Vendor control and security policies
21:16 Component delays and industry characters
24:08 Final integration testing and safety factors
28:20 Vendor management challenges with outdated tech
34:02 Missing sysadmin skills in industry
35:59 Challenges with ARM architecture
41:09 Managing hardware life cycles
44:23 Concerns about AI and open source
45:43 Future of JavaScript and integration
Whether you work in oil and gas, industrial cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, engineering, or OT operations, this episode offers an honest look at the gap between cybersecurity theory and what actually works in the field.
Listen in for the war stories, lessons learned, and "art of the possible" approaches helping bring modern technology into some of the world's most challenging OT environments.
About the guests:
Matt is a multidisciplinary team leader and technology practitioner with experience spanning electrical systems, controls, automation, data systems, and IS/IT. His background includes offshore oil and gas electronics, systems administration, and computer hardware, with a strong emphasis on troubleshooting and component-level repair. Matt has led diverse technical teams in fast-paced, mission-critical environments, where collaboration, clarity, and effective problem-solving are essential.
Contact Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewamclendon/
Josh is a software engineer and technology architect with more than a decade of experience designing and building sys...
