From cloud to AI, strong security fundamentals – from identity and access control to segmentation and visibility – matter far more than chasing whatever technology is dominating the headlines.
Max Borovkov, CEO at MBCTG, focuses on helping organisations improve cybersecurity where business risk and operational risk meet, often using GREYCORTEX, a network detection and response (NDR) specialist for IT and OT environments. His work centres on environments where IT, IoT and OT overlap, particularly in manufacturing and other production-sensitive industries where security issues can quickly become operational problems.
For Borovkov, the starting point is visibility. “IT, cloud, IoT, OT; they’re all overlapping more than they used to, and that increases exposure,” he says. “The real challenge is often not a lack of tools, but a lack of clear visibility into what is actually happening.” In practice, that visibility is not only a security advantage but a resilience one, particularly in environments where even a minor issue can affect production continuity.
As a result, security lapses for his clients carry real operational risk. He is blunt that becoming cloud-first does not automatically make an organisation secure. What matters, he says, is discipline: “Strong identity management, clear ownership, robust configuration management, continuous monitoring, and a real understanding of the shared responsibility model – this is what you need to have in your organisation.”
“For organisations with industrial or operational environments, cloud-first has to be balanced against the realities of OT and IoT systems. Cloud-first should mean more control and better visibility, not moving complexity somewhere else.”
It is much the same message when it comes to AI. “AI changes the speed and scale of threats, but it does not replace the need for strong security basics,” says Borovkov. Most organisations cannot keep up by chasing every new security headline, he notes; the better approach is “building environments that are easier to observe, control, and respond to”. AI can also be turned to defensive advantage: MBCTG uses anomaly detection across several layers of its solutions and services to speed up response times and improve visibility into any incident.
That gap in visibility is a recurring theme. A common scenario is a customer who suspects they carry some security risk but does not have a complete picture of their environment. A passive approach helps, giving visibility without disrupting operations, and early visibility is valuable because, as Borovkov notes, “it helps teams separate noise from risk and decide what to do next”.
“Most customers are looking for a solution that will not disrupt production, and once they have the visibility, they can prioritise,” he adds. From there, he says, his team helps customers prioritise the next steps and then execute them – often more effectively, because it already has a consolidated view of the environment.
Keeping an open mind matters too: sometimes the pain point is performance as much as security, and sometimes it is something else entirely. Borovkov points to one recent case involving a customer commissioning a new plant with PLCs and vision cameras. A switch with internet access had been connected, and several of the PLCs began reaching vendor websites to download firmware automatically, causing operational instability. Once the issue was identified, his team resolved it within minutes and restored stability without prolonged disruption.
That same message shaped Borovkov’s participation at TechEx North America in San Jose on May 18-19, where he appeared alongside GREYCORTEX at the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo. The goal, he says, was not simply to talk about products, but to give attendees a practical framework for identifying risk earlier and turning visibility into action.
Find out more about MBCTG’s work in cybersecurity and operational resilience here.
Photo by mostafa meraji on Unsplash
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