<p>Highly intelligent and technically savvy people are employed to hack data systems throughout the world for prominence or monetary gain. Organizations must combat these criminals with people of equal or greater ability. There have been reports of heightened threats from cyber criminals focusing upon the energy sector, with recent attacks upon natural gas pipelines and payment centers. The Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR) working collaboratively with the Purdue Process Safety and Assurance Center (P2SAC) reached out to the Computer and Information Technology Department to assist with analysis of the current cybersecurity posture of the companies involved with the CISTAR initiative. This cybersecurity research project identifies the overall defensive cyber posture of CISTAR companies and provides recommendations on how to bolster internal cyberspace defenses through the identification of gaps and shortfalls, which aided the compilation of suggestions for improvement. Key findings include the correlation of reduced cybersecurity readiness to companies founded less than 10 years ago, cybersecurity professionals employed by all CISTAR companies and all CISTAR companies implementing basic NIST cybersecurity procedures.</p>