Full Report
To drive the discussion around the future of OT cybersecurity and equip industry practitioners with the relevant knowledge and best practices, Kaspersky Lab invites industrial cybersecurity experts to submit their researches and reports to its 6th annual conference on industrial cybersecurity by June 1
Analysis Summary
# Industry News: Kaspersky Soliciting OT Cybersecurity Research for 6th Annual Conference
## Summary
Kaspersky Lab has issued a call for papers for its 6th annual industrial cybersecurity conference, inviting experts to submit research and reports focusing on the future of Operational Technology (OT) security. This event serves as a crucial platform for knowledge sharing and establishing best practices within the industrial control systems (ICS) security domain.
## Key Details
- Date: Announcement made April 2, 2018. Submission deadline is June 1 (2018 implied).
- Companies Involved: Kaspersky Lab (Organizer); Industrial Cybersecurity Experts (Submitting authors).
- Category: Industry Event/Thought Leadership Initiative.
## The Story
Kaspersky Lab is actively curating its yearly conference dedicated to industrial cybersecurity. By soliciting submissions by the June 1 deadline, the company aims to gather cutting-edge research, practical case studies, and forward-looking analysis from the global security community. The goal is explicitly stated as driving the discussion around the future trajectory of OT security and equipping practitioners with necessary knowledge and best practices.
## Business Impact
### For the Companies Involved
- **Kaspersky Lab:** Reinforces its position as a leading voice and thought leader in the specialized and complex field of OT/ICS security. Successful conferences enhance brand credibility, generate leads, and provide direct insight into current threats facing their target industrial clients.
### For Competitors
- Competitors are placed under pressure to demonstrate comparable leadership platforms or risk being perceived as lagging in driving the relevant security discourse.
### For Customers
- Attendees (customers) gain access to critical, peer-reviewed insights into emerging threats, new defensive techniques, and strategic approaches to securing operational environments, directly influencing their security purchasing and deployment strategies.
### For the Market
- The call for papers helps shape the immediate focus areas for OT security research and development across the entire industry over the next year.
## Technical Implications
The submissions will likely focus on emerging attack vectors targeting proprietary industrial protocols, advanced persistent threats in segmented networks, security integration for legacy systems, and the application of AI/ML in anomaly detection for process control environments.
## Strategic Analysis
- **Market Positioning:** Kaspersky is strategically positioning itself at the nexus between cutting-edge external research and industry application, distinguishing itself from vendors focused solely on product roadmaps.
- **Competitive Advantage:** Hosting such a high-profile, expert-driven event provides invaluable market intelligence and builds deep relationships with influential security architects and engineers.
- **Challenges:** Ensuring high-quality, non-vendor-biased submissions is key to maintaining the conference's credibility.
## Industry Reactions
- **Analyst Opinions:** Industry analysts would view this as a standard but necessary move by a major security vendor to secure mindshare in the high-stakes OT sector.
- **Expert Commentary:** Security experts are likely to use this as an opportunity to present novel defenses against recently disclosed vulnerabilities or share remediation successes in complex industrial deployments.
- **Market Response:** The announcement stimulates activity within the OT security research community in anticipation of the event.
## Future Outlook
- The topics prioritized in the accepted papers will signal Kaspersky’s strategic focus for upcoming product development and threat intelligence reporting for the following year. We should watch for key themes around supply chain security in industrial automation and securing remote access solutions.
## For Security Professionals
This event, post-publication of accepted papers, serves as a curated roadmap of essential knowledge. Professionals should monitor the accepted research to inform their own organization's defensive strategies, training needs, and technology investment justifications for industrial environments.