The Human Side of Cybersecurity with Dawn Cappelli, Head of OT CERT at Dragos

Episode notes

In this episode of the series from Cyber Intelligence Weekly, Echelon Risk + Cyber CEO Dan Desko sits down with Dawn Cappelli, former CISO at Rockwell Automation and current Head of OT CERT at Dragos. Dawn shares her remarkable journey from programming nuclear power plants to helping pioneer the insider threat discipline at Carnegie Mellon’s CERT program. Along the way, she helped develop some of the first data-driven insider threat models used by government and industry today. The conversation explores leadership lessons from decades in cybersecurity, including the importance of authenticity, building trust with executives and boards, and why cyber fundamentals still matter more than hype. Dawn also shares insights on OT security, AI risks, and the leadership qualities future CISOs need to succeed in an increasingly complex threat landscape. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave review, it helps more people find the show! Want first access to future interviews? ⁠