DEF CON Franklin and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) have launched the Water Watch Center, a program giving small water utilities direct access to cybersecurity support, the organizations announced at DEF CON 34 in Las Vegas.
What’s New
The Water Watch Center connects small water systems — those serving fewer than 10,000 people, which make up roughly 91% of the nation’s approximately 50,000 community water systems — with five managed detection and response providers: Defendify, Legato Security, L1 Secure, Rapid7 and Sentinel Technologies. The providers exchange threat information and patches through a shared collaboration mechanism and report findings to NRWA, which coordinates response for member utilities. DEF CON Franklin, a partnership between NRWA, the University of Chicago’s Cyber Policy Initiative and DEF CON, also offers a volunteer cyber task force that matches water systems with technologists who help harden OT and IT infrastructure.
Why It Matters
“NRWA is excited to establish the Water Watch Center to provide the tools our sector needs to assess, prepare for, and respond to cyberattacks,” said NRWA Chief Executive Officer Matthew Holmes. The launch follows what organizers described as one of the most widespread nation-state cyberattacks on U.S. water systems to date, and comes as small utilities with limited budgets and staff have struggled to access the kind of hands-on cybersecurity support larger utilities can afford.
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