Cybersecurity and New Hampshire Water Systems – A Year of Overwatch

In January of 2024, NHDES contracted with The Overwatch Foundation (OVW) to provide free, on-site cybersecurity services to municipal drinking water and wastewater systems. The first year was successful as OVW, NHDES and New Hampshire’s Department of Information Technology (NHDOIT) developed a cybersecurity program for New Hampshire’s water sector and implemented it, assisting almost 50 water and wastewater systems. 

It is crucial for the safety of public water system customers that necessary cybersecurity upgrades are made proactively. In some cases, the cost of upgrades can be a concern. However, waiting until there is an emergency to upgrade your system’s cyber equipment and software can add stress to the equation as one system experienced recently.     

OVW was approached by the Town of Greenville as their technology was actively failing. Greenville was at risk of not being able to provide drinking water to its citizens due to the aging out of their core water system technology. In this case, the critical upgrades were a sizeable expense on top of an already tight budget. OVW was able to prioritize the Town of Greenville’s situation despite other commitments, and with quick teamwork between the Town’s leadership and the SCADA technology partner, the necessary upgrades were installed. Upgrades were completed within 15 business days of system contact, instead of the typical 60-day timeframe. Greenville now has both critical infrastructure and cybersecurity protections to secure their community and a strong understanding of what it means to financially and operationally maintain their system. 

OVW works closely with participating installation technicians to offer the best price for hardware and software replacements, upgrades and installations. Municipalities interested in improving their water systems’ cybersecurity can contact the Overwatch Foundation directly. 

While OVW’s charter is to deploy critical infrastructure cybersecurity updates and services, cybersecurity vulnerabilities can actually be tightly coupled with traditional security infrastructure updates. For free assistance in assessing physical vulnerabilities, contact Joe Joseph Villers with CISA Protective Security Advisor for New Hampshire at [email protected].

The threat is real, so act now. Check out the NHDES Water System Cybersecurity webpage for more information and plenty of other cyber resources, or contact Brenda Leonard at (603) 271-0867 or [email protected].