DEF CON Franklin launches Water Watch Center to protect U.S. water utilities

cybersecurity water infrastructure DEF CON critical infrastructure protection managed detection and response

DEF CON Franklin and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) have launched the Water Watch Center to protect small, vulnerable water utilities from cyberattacks. The initiative follows recent cyberattacks on water systems in at least 12 U.S. states, which experts suggest may have originated from Iran.

The program aims to provide a scalable security model for the approximately 150,000 water and wastewater systems in the United States, specifically targeting those serving fewer than 10,000 people. The Water Watch Center will initially fund five managed detection and response (MSSP) providers—Defendify, Legato Security, L1 Secure, Rapid7, and Sentinel Technologies—to help detect and mitigate breaches.

This model functions as a pyramid: the NRWA provides operational support, MSSPs use sensors to hunt for vulnerabilities, and DEF CON Franklin volunteers assist with fixing issues or responding to instructions. The goal is to create a national delivery mechanism for cybersecurity that can scale beyond the volunteer-based efforts used over the past two years.