MARITIME RISK SYMPOSIUM
Putting it All Together: The Captain's Watch - Operationalizing Cyber Resilience
Session Abstract
In this closing session, we turn strategy into execution—exploring how managed SOC services, effective incident response, and realistic exercises drive readiness across maritime operations.
Session Takeaway
Attendees will learn how to streamline alert management, strengthen crisis coordination, and design response drills that prepare both technical teams and operational leaders for real-world disruptions.
Session Speakers
Scott Blough - Moderator
Mandiant, Part of Google Cloud
A "Builder and Operator" with over 30 years of security experience, this expert transforms legacy programs into high-performance engines. They bridge the gap between technical risk and business value across Fortune 10 healthcare and global maritime infrastructure. Notable achievements include developing the first NIST-annotated RMF for U.S. Coast Guard movable bridges and advising NATO, DHS, and the DoD. They specialize in stabilizing security postures and ensuring cyber maturity aligns with maritime resilience and growth.
Marco Ayala
ABS Consulting
Capt. Shawn Lansing
USCG, Sector Charleston
Captain Lansing is the Captain of the Port and Sector Commander in Charleston, South Carolina where he directs all Coast Guard forces and operations in the Port of Charleston and the intracoastal waterways and littorals of South Carolina and Georgia. He has also served in leadership roles at Sectors St. Petersburg, San Francisco, and Los Angeles-Long Beach, and early service as a Helicopter Rescue Swimmer. Prior to Charleston, he supported the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in carrying out responsibilities as the principal military advisor to the President and Secretary of Defense on contingency and crisis operations across the Western Hemisphere.
Nate Toll
Mandiant, Part of Google Cloud
Nate Toll is a Consulting Manager at Google/Mandiant, where he specializes in cyber defense, transformation and incident response remediation. With 13 years of experience in information security and maritime law enforcement, Mr. Toll has led enterprise security operations centers, built threat hunting teams and coordinated responses to ransomware and nation-state threats. Mr.Toll is also a Lieutenant Commander in the Coast Guard Reserve, currently serving as Commanding Officer of 1941 Cyber Protection Team.
Chris Wolski
InfraGard Maritime Sector Chief
Chris Wolski is a distinguished information security leader, former Chief Information Security Officer for a Fortune 1000 company and now provides fractional information and physical security leadership and physical/cyber security assessments as the founder of Applied Security Convergence for the maritime and oil & gas industry.
Chris is dual hatted as the Maritime Cross Sector Chief for the Houston InfraGard and Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) Security Subcommittee Chair. He is an award-winning transformational information security leader with over two decades of cross-industry cybersecurity expertise.
As an educator, Professor Wolski teaches at Texas A&M University School of Law on maritime cybersecurity compliance and Texas A&M University Galveston on cybersecurity.
His rich career started as an information security analyst in the U.S. Navy and private sector, where he led various information security teams. In 2021 he was awarded a U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Service Citation for his response to the nation state attack on the Port of Houston and his initiative to create a maritime cyber intelligence sharing service in the Houston, Texas region.
His cybersecurity expertise in the private sector cuts across critical infrastructure, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and government sectors. As a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer, he has managed information security operations involving multinational organizations. Chris holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity from the University of Maryland Global Campus.
