2024 Engineering Leader Under 40: Nicole Riddle, 32

Nicole Riddle, 32
OT Cybersecurity Engineer
Applied Control Engineering
Newark, DE

What Makes Nicole an Engineering Leader

As an experienced engineer with Applied Control Engineering’s operation technologies (OT) cybersecurity business, Nicole has played a pivotal role in building ACE’s cybersecurity division. She has been instrumental in creating cybersecurity standards for customers and developing training materials for other engineers. Alongside her internal contributions, Nicole assists new customers in evaluating and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities within their industrial control systems (ICS) and supports existing customers in maintaining their established cybersecurity programs.

Achievements, Advancements & Career-related Industry Contributions

Nicole earned her degree in chemical engineering to provide a wide array of industry options upon graduation. Starting her career as a process control engineer on a production line, she became fascinated with the automation of the process. This interest led her to seek opportunities in the automation space, eventually taking a position with a distributed control system (DCS) company, working primarily within the power industry. There, she was part of a select group chosen for the OT cybersecurity team, where she learned about topics such as disaster recovery, endpoint hardening, patching, networking, and access control. She also gained in-depth knowledge about specific topics such as North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC-CIP) cybersecurity standards, U.S. Dept. of Defense Security Technical Implementation Guides (DoD STIGs), and Microsoft Active Directory.

Since joining ACE, Nicole has utilized that experience as part of the Cybersecurity Committee, helping to create and maintain cybersecurity templates and standards, such as endpoint hardening Group Policy Objects and Windows Server Update Services patching procedures. She has led several cybersecurity projects, working closely with customers to execute their policies while taking the opportunity to train other engineers on various aspects of OT cybersecurity.

Non-work-related Activities & Hobbies

Nicole has recently taken up gardening as a means to relax and bond with her neighbors. She also enjoys playing video and board games with friends, hosting large, weekend-long LAN parties once or twice a year. Nicole delights in bringing new and old friends together over common interests.

Nicole participates in Extra Life, a program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. This involves fundraising and then playing and streaming games for 24 hours (not necessarily consecutive). The money raised goes to a player’s chosen hospital, which then uses it for everything from research and training to entertainment for patients.

Interesting Details

Nicole completed the ISA/IEC 62443 Fundamentals Specialist certification in 2022 and plans to complete additional certifications to achieve the Cybersecurity Expert Certificate. For fun and a sense of community, Nicole trains at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym, where she earned her blue belt in 2022 and hopes to eventually earn her black belt.

Why Nicole Chose This Career

Nicole knew from a young age that she wanted to be an engineer due to her fascination with real-life applications of science and technology. Although she did not initially anticipate working in OT cybersecurity, she has found great satisfaction in the field. Nicole has enjoyed every step of her journey, from helping customers understand the importance of safeguarding their control systems to implementing various protection methods.

For more cybersecurity coverage and information check out our sister site, Industrial Cybersecurity Pulse.