S5 E9: Critical Infrastructure Protection - with Jim Linn, Managing IT Director of American Gas Association

Bill Murphy's 10X Podcast

My guest this week is Jim Linn, Managing Director of Information Technology of American Gas Association. In an association, this simply means he is the “top dog” with IT.

What is fascinating about my guest today is that he built his own ISAC (information Sharing and Analysis Center) from scratch to service his industry - Natural Gas, which is part of the critical infrastructure of the US. He is the Executive Director for the Downstream Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center (DNG-ISAC).

By Far Jim has the most industry certification I have ever seen:

• B.S. degree in Computer Systems Management from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from Drexel University
• He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional
• Certified Association Executive
• Certified Information Systems Auditor.

Jim is quiet spoken but as I talked with him the word WISDOM kept popping up for me.

Lessons and wins for you as you listen are:

1. Learn what an ISAC is and what it does.
2. Why it is hard to upgrade critical infrastructure components
3. What is DHS – AIS automated Indicator Sharing
4. Learn about ISAO - Information Sharing Analysis Organization
5. Emphasis of the value of ‘Service’ as a CIO
6. Being a mentor and Finding a mentor
7. Volunteering in your community to develop leadership skills
8. Building Communications skills, e.g. via toastmasters, etc.
9. Relationships: The importance of an IT Leader to build relationships
10. The importance of recognizing how hard critical infrastructure (Gas and Electric) personnel is working their tails off to be secure
11. Be cautious but proud of the work you do
12. How current information sharing (such as ISAC) works and his vision for the future with DoE, DoD, NIST, DHS, etc.

About Jim Linn:

Jim has spent the past 30 years of his career in Information Technology and Cybersecurity management with several non-profit organizations in the Washington, DC area. He is presently Managing Director, Information Technology for the American Gas Association,and has been for the past nineteen years. Prior to that he spent eight years as IT Director for the Chemical Manufacturers Association. He planned IT projects and set technical direction for both of these organizations. In addition, he is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer, Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Certified Association Executive, Certified Information Systems Auditor, and holds many other industry certifications.

In recent years Jim has split his time between internal IT responsibilities and industry responsibilities. Jim is the information technology cybersecurity subject matter expert for AGA’s cybersecurity Strategy Task Force. In this capacity he has administered cybersecurity reviews with a number of natural gas utilities and also serves as Executive Director for the Downstream Natural Gas ISAC (https://www.dngisac.com/). He is the staff executive for AGA’s Customer Service Committee and Technology Advisory Council. In these capacities he serves senior leaders in the fields of Customer Service and Information Technology within the natural gas distribution industry. The Customer Service area includes an annual benchmarking effort, two workshops and a large conference. The Information Technology area includes two council meetings annually.

Jim has a B.S. degree in Computer Systems Management from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from Drexel University.

Read full transcript here.

How to get in touch with Jim Linn

LinkedIn

Key Resources:

• American Gas Association Website
• Interview with Energy Central
• Jim Linn's Profile on True Blue Natural Gas Blog

This episode is sponsored by the CIO Scoreboard, a powerful tool that helps you communicate the status of your IT Security program visually in just a few minutes.

Credits: * Outro music provided by Ben’s Sound

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About Bill Murphy Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter.