What Does a Maritime Cybersecurity Professional Do? Q&A with Marco Ayala

Marco (Marc) Ayala is a process automation professional with more than 25 years of experience working in petrochemical facilities where he designed, implemented, and maintained their process instrumentation, automation systems, and process control networks. Currently the director and ICS cybersecurity section lead at 1898 & Co. (part of Burns & McDonnell), Marco has expertise with safety systems, advanced process control, enterprise historians, and industrial network security where he worked with enterprise IT to implement a corporate PCN security solution. He is active in cybersecurity efforts for the oil and gas, maritime port, offshore facilities, and chemical sectors, working alongside federal, local, and state entities for securing the private sector.

Marco is very active in ISA and has been a member for about 20 years. He is now a senior member and a certified cyber instructor for ISA. He sits on the Safety and Security Division (SAFESEC) committee and is their liaison to the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance. He is also the membership chair of the Smart Manufacturing and IIoT Division (SMIIoT).

“Safety, security, and digitalization are all so important,” Marco says. “There’s just so much to do.”

His activities outside of ISA also dovetail with his drive to contribute in these areas. Marco is the Sector Chief for the Maritime Domain Cross Sector Council (CSC) with InfraGard. He is a member contributor of the AMSC Gulf of Mexico (GOM) cyber panel, as well as the chair of the cybersecurity subcommittee of AMSC. Marco served on the working group that developed the “Roadmap to Secure Control Systems in the Chemical Sector” in 2009.