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White House to Launch Water Sector Cyber Protection Program as State Attacks Continue
STATUS: Federal Policy Response SEVERITY: 5/10 AUDIENCE: Government, Defense, Critical Infrastructure Security Leads
Aug 28, 2026
·Blog
·Secure Communications
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The White House is preparing to launch a program, led by the Office of the National Cyber Director, that will enlist private cybersecurity firms to help under-resourced water utilities defend against digital attacks, as officials continue investigating water system intrusions across roughly a dozen states that some suspect may be linked to Iran.
What Happened and Why It Is Different
The attacks didn't just get a response. They got a program.
The White House is preparing to launch a cyber protection program for water providers, led by the Office of the National Cyber Director, that would enlist private firms to help states with limited cyber resources defend platforms managing water and wastewater transmission.1 The program could be announced within days and may launch first in Texas as a testbed before expanding to other states that request the service.1
The timing follows a summer of water sector intrusions. More than 100 community water systems were targeted since late July, and roughly 12 states have reported attacks, though officials say systems continued operating safely with no known effects on public health.1 The FBI and CISA are still working incident response across the affected states.1
The White House has reportedly been discussing pilot programs across multiple critical infrastructure sectors with the private sector since around May, and water was judged to need assistance sooner given how under resourced the sector is relative to other parts of the critical infrastructure landscape.1
The specific vulnerability the program will need to address is already documented: lax management of remote access systems, the tools that let utilities and their systems integrators manage water infrastructure from offsite, has been identified as the pathway letting hackers into water facilities over the past several weeks.1
What They Found and What It Means
Finding | What It Means | Operational Consequence | Open Question |
The White House is standing up a formal program to enlist private firms in defending water utilities, expected to launch first in Texas as a pilot. | The federal response to this summer's water attacks has moved from incident response to a standing assistance program, not another guidance document. | Water utilities, especially smaller and rural ones without dedicated security staff, now have a federal on-ramp to outside help rather than being left to interpret guidance alone. | How quickly the program can move past the pilot program to the roughly 12 states already reporting intrusions. |
Officials and industry experts have identified lax management of remote access systems, tools used by utilities and their systems integrators, as the pathway that let hackers into water facilities this summer. | The weak point isn't necessarily the water infrastructure itself. It's the remote administrative access built to manage it from offsite. | Any assistance program that hardens the utility but doesn't address the systems integrator's remote access practices leaves the same door open. | Whether the program's private-sector partners will have the authority or scope to audit systems integrator practices, not just utility-side defenses. |
Why This Matters
Old Assumption | Current Reality | BlackBerry Response |
Federal guidance and after-the-fact incident response are the extent of what water utilities can expect from Washington. | ONCD is standing up a dedicated program that enlists private firms directly, treating water as a sector that needs hands-on assistance, not just a framework to read. | BlackBerry® AtHoc® solution gives a resource-constrained utility, exactly the kind this program is built for, a way to coordinate with state and federal responders during an active incident without building that capability from scratch. |
Securing a water utility means securing the utility's own network and control systems. | The pathway attackers actually used runs through remote access tools managed by systems integrators, a layer outside the utility's direct control. | BlackBerry® UEM® solution extends device compliance and access control to the third-party systems integrator relationship itself, not just utility-owned endpoints, closing the gap identified as a condition of the program's success. |
A state without a publicly reported water system intrusion is a state that hasn't been targeted. | Officials scoped this as a roughly 12-state pattern before any single state beyond Minnesota had its incident individually detailed in public reporting. | BlakBerry AtHoc-based coordination gives utilities a channel to share and receive early warning before their own incident becomes the next state added to that count. |
Recommended Actions
IMMEDIATE | If your organization is a water or wastewater utility, or supports one as a systems integrator, watch for the ONCD program announcement and its Texas pilot criteria, expected within days. |
IMMEDIATE | Audit remote access credentials and tools used by any third-party systems integrator managing your control systems. This is the specific pathway officials have identified, not a generic recommendation. |
SHORT-TERM | Prepare a response plan that treats the systems integrator relationship, not just the utility's own network, as part of any federally supported assistance engagement. |
SHORT-TERM | Identify water and wastewater utility accounts, particularly smaller or rural ones, that would be natural candidates for this program and position ahead of the announcement. |
ONGOING | Track the program's rollout beyond Texas, since expansion criteria will likely shape which utilities become buying-ready first. |
BlackBerry Secure Communications Position
A federal program is not a fix. It's an admission that the sector couldn't get there alone, and an opening for whoever shows up with something the utility can actually deploy. The vulnerability officials named isn't exotic. It's a remote access relationship nobody was watching closely enough. That's a solvable problem, and utilities that wait for the program to hand them a solution will be behind the ones who start closing that gap now.
Citations:
1. White House to soon launch water provider cyber protection program (David DiMolfetta, Nextgov/FCW, August 26, 2026).
2. White House to unveil program to protect water systems against hackers (Politico, first report on White House water sector program plans, August 26, 2026).
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