Category: IoT, OT, & SCADA Security

AWIA Was Never Enough. The Latest Water Utility Attacks Prove It.

The cyberattacks against water utilities reported over the past week have generated a familiar response. Questions about attribution. Discussions about foreign adversaries. Renewed calls for additional funding. And, inevitably, renewed conversations about compliance. Those conversations miss the point. Whether these attacks ultimately trace back to Iranian actors or another threat group is important for national… Read more »

What the Accenture-Dragos Deal Means for the Future of OT Security

By: Christopher Walcutt 06.23.26

Accenture’s acquisition of a majority stake in Dragos is more than another cybersecurity transaction. It represents a defining moment for the Operational Technology (OT) security market and a clear signal that industrial cyber resilience has become a strategic business priority. As industrial organizations face increasing pressure from ransomware groups, nation-state actors, AI-enabled threats, and continued… Read more »

Securing the Path Between IT and OT Environments

By: Jesse Rodriguez 07.30.25

Utilities are under increasing pressure to secure the path between their IT and OT environments and keep attackers out of both.

Cyber Due Diligence in the M&A Process

By: Bethany Kozal 07.23.25

Why Cybersecurity in Mergers and Acquisitions Can be a Dealmaker – or a Deal Breaker It’s not uncommon for companies that are approaching a merger or acquisition process to focus on financials, company culture, and operational structure, casting cyber due diligence to the wayside. If cybersecurity isn’t a key component in a company’s M&A process,… Read more »

Tales From the Road: Establishing a Common Language Using NIST

By: Bethany Kozal 03.25.25

Getting a wastewater utility’s OT and IT departments on the same page to address vulnerabilities they didn’t know they had. Wastewater utilities are among some of the most targeted industries for cyber attacks, and the implications can be devastating as operational interruptions or shut-downs could directly affect public health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does… Read more »

Water Utilities Under Siege: Why Basic Cybersecurity is Still Lacking

By: Christopher Walcutt 10.03.24

Last Wednesday, CISA issued an advisory two days after Arkansas City, Kansas, revealed that a Sunday morning cyberattack forced it to switch its water treatment facility to manual operations. In the alert, CISA urged OT/ICS operators in critical infrastructure sectors to apply the recommendations listed in Defending OT Operations Against Ongoing Pro-Russia Hacktivist Activity to… Read more »

Dissecting the Latest EPA Alert: What it Means for Drinking Water Utilities

By: Christopher Walcutt 05.23.24

On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an enforcement alert outlining the cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities facing community drinking water systems. It details the necessary steps these systems must take to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The EPA issued this alert due to the rising frequency and severity of threats… Read more »

Tales From the Road: If Your Networks Can Talk to Each Other, You’ve Got Gaps

By: Bethany Kozal 05.07.24

Industrial control systems have a big job to do for a single facility’s OT environment – but if you’re operating multiple facilities spread across the U.S. or the world, those systems have a far larger workload, and the security risks inherent in their function get larger too. What no critical infrastructure or industrial corporation wants… Read more »

Tales From the Road: OT Security Assessment of Water Utility Illuminates the Path for Widespread Industry Improvement

By: Bethany Kozal 10.16.23

Our recent OT security assessment at a private water utility illustrates how no industry is safe from security threats. Regardless of sector, all industries, from education, to finance, to water treatment, are susceptible to bad actors taking advantage of their internally-overlooked vulnerabilities. While water utilities have historically lagged behind other industries in OT security, the… Read more »

Detecting Hardware Vulnerabilities with IoT Penetration Testing

By: Bethany Kozal 08.24.23

Welcome to a new series of DirectDefense blog posts about hardware and IoT penetration testing! The goal of this 101 series is to shed light on common hardware I/O interfaces, associated protocols, and the multitude of vulnerabilities that can arise when they are left unprotected. While hardware reconnaissance will be briefly discussed, this particular article… Read more »

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