DEF CON hackers add new muscle to water utility protection

DEF CON hackers have broadened their efforts to safeguard rural water systems in the US by partnering with managed detection and response providers, digital twins, and AI agents. At DEF CON, DEF CON Franklin and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) launched the Water Watch Center to initially fund five security providers - Defendify, Legato Security, L1 Secure, Rapid7, and Sentinel Technologies - to aid small water utilities serving under 10,000 people.

These providers will share threat information with NRWA, which offers technical and operational support to water and wastewater utilities nationwide.

Jake Braun, co-founder of the DEF CON Franklin project, explained that DEF CON Franklin realized the need for a scalable solution for cyber protection in small water systems during the two-year volunteer program they conducted earlier. The Water Watch Center functions as a pyramid, with NRWA at the top, MSSP sensors detecting vulnerabilities across networks, and volunteers assisting in resolving issues or responding to instructions.

Braun mentioned that the program will expand to 10 MSSPs and has partnerships with Vanderbilt University to create digital twins of a few WWC water and wastewater systems to test AI-based defense systems.