Three questions, one expert: Christian Siemers, OT consultant (CISSP certified)

In this new series, we ask safety, sustainability and cybersecurity experts three questions to learn more about their role at Airbus Protect. First up is Christian Siemers, who’s based in our Ottobrunn office.  

Could you tell us what your job as an OT consultant involves?

The first half of our job as OT consultants is to act as cybersecurity tour guides with a focus on industrial environments! We lead our customers through the operational technology (OT) cybersecurity landscape and teach them about points of interest, new technologies and potential threats. The second half of our role involves analysing, architecting, implementing and managing cybersecurity programmes. We aim to protect and defend systems, while making it easy for customers to restore the operations of core processes in the event of an attack.

If I had to summarise our mission into a single phrase, it’d be that we try to keep our customers resilient.

What is the CISSP certification? Why did you decide to become CISSP certified? What are your top tips for others looking to take the exam?

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) qualification is an internationally recognised, independently verified information security accreditation. Currently, over 150,000 people worldwide hold the CISSP, with almost 3000 of them living in my home country of Germany.

I took the CISSP because it forces you to keep learning and developing your skills. To prepare, I obviously read the textbook, as well as watched some online videos. I also did a lot of practice questions – none of which came up in the final exam! Unusually for a cyber professional (since we spend all our time online), I also hand wrote a lot of my notes and summaries on the different domains.

My top tip for anyone taking the exam is to read the question and the four multiple choice answers very carefully. Sometimes they’re tricky, and it’s easy to choose the wrong answer if you move too quickly.

How is it useful for Airbus Protect customers?

Our customers benefit directly from our CISSP certified professionals, since the certification aims to demonstrate the holder’s ability to architect cybersecurity solutions for businesses, with a special emphasis on core processes. Not only that, but the CISSP also educates holders on operating and maintaining solutions according to international best practices, methods and standards.

Since one of the requirements to get certified is to demonstrate hands-on experience in the cybersecurity industry, our customers can be confident that, when we deliver our services, we’re building on all our past projects and thousands of hours of learning. Moreover, our customers benefit directly from the “continuing professional education programme” that certified professionals must comply with. So, when you’re dealing with a CISSP certified professional, you can be sure that they’re up to date on state-of-the-art methods and technology.

Need help protecting your industrial environments from ever-changing cyber threats? Get in touch with our experienced OT consultants. 

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