Water and wastewater treatment plants are squarely in the crosshairs of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Attacks on OT networks are real, evolving, and targeting essential water infrastructure globally. From ransomware locking SCADA environments to nation-state actors testing vulnerabilities in critical ICS, the risks to service continuity, asset integrity, and public trust are multiplying.
Enter DCS-Water ’25
The Water Tower and iTrust Labs are launching DCS-Water ’25, a focused cybersecurity event for water professionals, October 28-30 in Buford, Georgia. This is an event engineered specifically to address your operational reality as water utilities accelerate digitization and remote monitoring across treatment facilities and distribution networks.
Expect deep dives on zero-trust architectures, AI-driven anomaly detection, and the deployment of cyber-physical testbeds to simulate, understand, and defend against real-world attack scenarios. This event will arm you with the next layers of protection you will need as IT and OT convergence outpaces the capabilities of traditional perimeter defenses.
The Imperative of Cyber Resilience
Melissa Meeker, CEO of The Water Tower, put it plainly: The challenge of protecting water supplies from cyber threats will only worsen. This is a strategic issue for utilities of every size, whether you’re a small rural system or a large metropolitan provider.
Utilities are already dealing with staffing shortages, rising chemical costs, and aging infrastructure. A major cyber incident can cascade operational chaos across all these domains. Getting ahead of these threats is now part of running a modern utility.
Hands-On Cyber Defense Training
DCS-Water ’25 isn’t just panels and PowerPoints. On October 30, the event will host a red-blue team cyber defense exercise, letting you experience firsthand what it’s like to defend a water or wastewater plant against a live attack. These are the exercises that sharpen your team’s response plans, test your assumptions, and expose gaps before a real attacker does.
Cross-Sector Collaboration
Jianying Zhou, director at iTrust, calls this event a unique platform that brings together industry professionals, academic researchers, and government agencies to share actionable technical approaches. It’s a chance to break silos, learn from international peers, and bring proven, tested cyber strategies home to your utility.
Get Involved Before the Next Attack
The call for presentation abstracts is open, and sponsorships and exhibitor slots are available. But even if you just attend, you will leave better prepared to harden your systems, justify cybersecurity investments to your board, and build a cyber-aware culture within your utility. Cybersecurity is no longer an optional budget line for water treatment professionals. It’s a real operational risk that can shut down your plant, damage public trust, and cost millions in remediation and fines. DCS-Water ’25 offers you practical, water-focused knowledge and training to get ahead of the threat curve before the next breach becomes tomorrow’s emergency. For details and registration, visit the event website. If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to level up your cybersecurity readiness, this is it.
