New Water Watch Center Bolsters Utility Cybersecurity

DEF CON Franklin and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) announced the launch of the Water Watch Center (WWC), a program intended to give small water and wastewater utilities direct cybersecurity support. The organizers positioned the rollout as arriving on the heels of what they described as one of the most widespread nation‑state cyberattacks on U.S. water systems, with the center focused on improving defenses, identifying attacks, and mitigating breaches to support reliable service delivery.

An initial cohort of five managed detection and response (MDR) providers—Defendify, Legato Security, L1 Secure, Rapid7, and Sentinel Technologies—has joined the effort. Under the program, these providers will exchange threat information and patch updates through a dedicated collaboration mechanism and share that information with NRWA, which will act as the national hub. The services are aimed at utilities serving fewer than 10,000 people, a segment that represents 91% of the approximately 50,000 community water systems nationwide.

“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. “Water systems are facing increasing cybersecurity risks, and with the Water Watch Center, we’re providing rural systems with trusted resources to secure our nation’s water infrastructure.”

The announcement was made during the annual DEF CON hacker conference in Las Vegas following a two‑year initiative that recruited nearly 450 volunteer security specialists. Many of those volunteers were paired with water and wastewater utilities in Arizona, Indiana, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. That work helped strengthen defenses at individual utilities and highlighted the ongoing challenge of scaling cybersecurity services across a geographically dispersed sector.

According to DEF CON Franklin co‑founder Jake Braun, the participating cyber firms and NRWA are working toward a scalable delivery model for resource‑constrained utilities. He noted that volunteers will help reduce costs and that the initial providers were selected for their existing experience in water‑utility environments, allowing teams to engage quickly with sector‑specific needs.

Beyond the Water Watch Center collaboration, NRWA continues to assist systems in preparing for, preventing, and responding to cyber threats through updates, advisories, and training available via the National Rural Water Cybersecurity Center. NRWA has also advocated for a Cybersecurity Circuit Rider Program in the Farm Bill to deploy additional expertise to rural utilities using the established Circuit Rider approach, which the association describes as a first‑of‑its‑kind federal effort to enhance cybersecurity capabilities in the sector.

DEF CON Franklin, named for Benjamin Franklin, focuses on supporting vulnerable critical infrastructure—beginning with water systems, wastewater facilities, and schools—and publishes the Hackers’ Almanack to translate insights from DEF CON into policy guidance. NRWA is a non‑profit organization dedicated to training, supporting, and promoting water and wastewater professionals serving small and rural communities, providing nationwide training and technical assistance through affiliated State Rural Water Associations that represent more than 31,000 utility system members across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.