That’s a great question.

What is a Cyber sensitive position?

A cyber sensitive position is a subset of a job position description that can be graded as Ultra, High, Medium or Low sensitivity with respect to cybersecurity assets and associated potential consequences that may impact an operating company.

What this means is that more and more companies are qualifying their operating assets within the context of cybersecurity risk. These risk qualifications of operating assets require having engineering, operation and maintenance positions defined as cyber sensitive positions as appropriate for their role with respect to the asset(s) they support.

Today’s companies have an obligation to ensure they manage the risk envelope of their operating assets to tolerable levels. In the past, as the assets aged, automations upgrades became the norm to extend the life of the asset. As the skilled operating staff move to retirement, replacing these resources becomes a matter of priority. However, today the sensitivity to cybersecurity hazards add to the skills set needed to determine if a given candidate is qualified, or poses risk to the company’s assets. 

Think of it like this, would you hire a bus driver that has lost his or her licenses for speeding multiple times? No, you would not put your charter bus service company or yourself in a position that relies on the habitual speeder to change their behavior. 

Today’s companies may begin to qualify specific positions with a look towards cyber hygiene. The requisite cyber hygiene of a specific individual that supports a high-risk asset is part of the job. Cyber Hygiene, background checks, along with core skills are items that can be reviewed to ensure a new hire will not affect the risk envelope of a given companies operating assets.

03 - Process Safety and Cybersecurity, Related or Still Distant Cousins?