The Crypto Agility Paradox: When Hardware Becomes Your Security Bottleneck
Shielded: The Last Line of Cyber Defense · 2025-06-26 · 45 min
Episode notes
Most cybersecurity roadmaps don’t plan for 20-year-old firmware, but that’s the reality of operational technology (OT). In this episode, Cassie Crossley, Vice President of Supply Chain Security in the Global Cybersecurity & Product Security Office at Schneider Electric, offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to secure industrial systems, from chips to code. Cassie explains why crypto agility isn’t just about algorithm swaps, it’s a long-haul architectural rethink. She unpacks how Schneider built a five-year roadmap with CTO support, how they tackled challenges like legacy devices, hardware constraints, and root-of-trust dependencies, and why threat modeling needs to evolve for future-ready product design. From hardware bill of materials (HBOM) to the rising importance of crypto BoMs, Cassie outlines the real work behind securing infrastructure that can't just be patched or replaced. Whether you’re building new systems or protecting the old ones, this episode will change how you think about quantum readiness in the physical world.