“It’s not just an IT problem.”
On this week’s episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, Sprinter Business Solutions’ Brett Chittum dives into the evolution of manufacturing cybersecurity, which he tells podcast co-hosts Kate Bruns of Insight and Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance must now be thought about as an operational risk.
“It has always been a cost for any organization out there, manufacturing or any industry. We have profit center; we have cost center. And that’s always been a cost,” Chittum explains on this week’s episode. “And I think that we need to start thinking operationally, and thinking about how those programs, how those servers, how those computers are running our devices, our machines, our whole organization … You’ve got to operationally think about this. You have to budget for replacement. It’s no longer a cost because it’s a risk.”
The episode, produced by Woodward Community Media, features a robust discussion of cybersecurity threats and mitigation strategies. In addition to sharing his best leadership insight, Chittum talks about his work with Sprinter and emphasizes the importance of identity as the new perimeter, network segmentation, email defense, patch management, backups and incident response planning. He also highlights the critical role of human error in cybersecurity breaches.
“It’s about the human on the other side that the hackers are really trying to get into by email,” Chittum tells Bruns and Franz. “The biggest threat is that human at the keyboard and monitor in your organization.”
NEW Manufacturing Insights is distributed by Spreaker, but it is available anywhere you get audio podcasts. The podcast is sponsored by Stoke RGA throughout 2026. New episodes are released on Thursdays, though there will not be a new episode released next week as we celebrate the Memorial Day holiday. The next episode will be released June 4 and will include a special celebration of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance’s 20th anniversary.
