News & Insights

WaterISAC continues to expand its list of Champions with Luminary Automation, Cybersecurity and Engineering, LLC. Luminary A.C.E. is a certified minority-owned and veteran-owned cybersecurity consulting, technology, and engineering firm. They act as a vendor-neutral strategic partner for water and wastewater utilities by assessing, implementing, and managing OT infrastructure to increase operational resilience and cybersecurity readiness. 

Baltimore, MD – Luminary ACE is pleased to announce Managing Principal Engineer Dean Ford’s abstract, Unleashing the Power of Convergence in IT – OT – ET – ST, has been accepted for the SWAN 2023 Conference in Glasgow, Scotland from May 9-11, 2023. The presentation will challenge the way IT – OT – ET – […]

Baltimore, MD – Luminary Automation, Cybersecurity and Engineering, a provider of professional control system engineering, automation, and cybersecurity services, is pleased to announce an expansion of its leadership team. Geoff Guss has been named the Vice President of Business Development. Geoff has over 20 years of experience in the water, wastewater, powergen, process, and petroleum […]

Baltimore, MD – Luminary Automation, Cybersecurity and Engineering, a provider of professional control system engineering, automation, and cybersecurity services, is pleased to announce an expansion of its leadership team. Nick Stabile has been named the Director Of Client Services. Nick brings over 35 years of experience working with water, wastewater, gas, and electric utilities. He […]

We often treat cybersecurity as a stand-alone issue, rather than something that needs to be integrated into an operator’s workflow which creates inefficiencies, and resistance to secure practices. Written for Smart Industry

February 1, 2022 – The leaders of Luminary Automation and Engineering and Wells Mason Cyber Group announced today that they have formed a partnership to bring their offerings together. The newly formed Luminary Automation, Cybersecurity and Engineering will focus on providing a full scope of services to deliver secure, innovative ICS / SCADA solutions. “The […]

It’s widely known that recovering from a cyber-attack can be costly to small businesses, but many entrepreneurs do not realize that their security measures can actually impact their company’s valuation. It’s understood that if two companies are discussing a merger or acquisition, the potential buyer will perform due diligence from a financial and legal standpoint. […]

Digital transformation is the latest buzzword in the corporate lexicon, which means that many people may not actually understand the real goal behind it.  Simply put, digital transformation is the process of adopting new technology to improve business processes and evolving business practices to unlock new operating models, increasing customer value. Once a company has […]

The costs of a data breach are rising.  According to IBM’s 2021 report:, the average cost of a data breach has risen to $4.24 million – the highest average ever. They also found that compromised credentials were the most common way hackers gained access, and that remote work has been a large factor in both […]

It’s no secret that cybersecurity breaches are increasing in both frequency and complexity. Ransomware attacks are regularly in the news, and the 2020 Thales Data Threat Report found that: 49% of US companies have experienced a data breach 26% of US companies have experienced a data breach within the last year Despite these sobering numbers, […]

It seems like every day there is a new story of a data breach or cyber-attack reported in the news.. As more and more of our activities take place online the threat of cybersecurity increases. Despite this, few small businesses take steps to protect their systems and information from cyber-attacks. In fact, studies show that […]

This is a paper I wrote for a presentation I just gave in Lima, Peru to a group of Automation Professionals sponsored by TECSUP.  It is also my first blog update using the MS Word tool so the formatting is a little off.  More practice needed there.  One thing of note is that it killed […]

My latest article about our profession in Control Engineering Magazine. http://www.controleng.com/home/single-article/soapbox-automation-profession-reborn/2e0e61c02b.html Thank you to Mark Hoske and CFE Media for providing the opportunity to educate our community.

  Dean Ford: Leaders are obligated to the future | ISA. The article above begins a discussion based upon my thoughts on the responsibility and obligation that today’s leaders in ISA and the Automation Profession have to the future of the profession.  In reality, the ideas set forth apply to anyone in a leadership position.  Many […]

As I was working to formulate some of the feelings I have about the only professional society that fits us, ISA, I thought back to a fantastic post by Nick Sands early this year.  Nick has been active in ISA for many years and is probably the most influential on me getting involved.  I found it […]

The U.S. Department of Labor has just launched a case summary for the Automation Competency Model.  The Case summary appears on DOL’s CareerOneStop Site.  http://www.careeronestop.org/competencymodel/competencymodel_users.aspx The Summary discusses how the Automation Competency Model is being put into action.  This Case Summary illustrates the commitment by DOL to keep the Automation Competency Model front and center to address […]

See the note below from Mike Marlowe.  The article is important but I also want to introduce you to a very important person to our efforts.  For those of you that don’t know Mike, he is staff for the Automation Federation.  He has been crucial  in our efforts to build the profession.  Mike is very […]

Throughout my career as an Automation Professional, I have noticed two distinct types of programmers.  Those that just take what the spec says and programs for that and those that use the spec as a guide to develop a control system.  Unfortunately, there are no courses on the differences in the two for automation folks.  […]

I am sure you have all heard about the various food borne illness outbreaks and the tragic results that have killed and sickened people.  In every case, it takes the FDA several weeks to identify the source of the contamination and the chain of custody.  To recap, we have had these issues in peanuts, tomatos, spinach and […]