🔒Portland cybersecurity startup steps up to protect water utilities

Defendify, a Portland cybersecurity startup led by founders Rob Simopoulos and Andrew Rinaldi, is one of five founding providers of the Water Watch Center, a new national initiative aimed at helping small water and wastewater utilities defend themselves against a sharp rise in cyberattacks, including those launched by nation-state adversaries.

Mainebiz checked in with Simopoulos, CEO of Defendify, to learn more about what the work entails.

Mainebiz: What sparked your interest in this Water Watch Center initiative?
Rob Simopoulos: These smaller water utilities face many of the same cybersecurity threats as much larger utilities, but they often don't have the same resources, expertise, or budget to protect themselves. We knew that Defendify was specifically built to solve this challenge and were excited to help in the partnership.

MB: What is the Water Watch Center?
RS: The Water Watch Center brings together leading organizations with complementary strengths, including DEF CON Franklin, which mobilizes cybersecurity expertise around critical infrastructure, the National Rural Water Association, which works directly with thousands of these smaller water and wastewater systems across the country, and cybersecurity providers like Defendify. We are honored to be a part of this unique initiative; it’s a great opportunity for us to help protect these vital organizations.

MB: How vulnerable are water utilities to cyberattacks?
RS: There is no single answer because every water system is different, but smaller utilities can face a difficult combination of limited staff, aging technology, and rapidly evolving cyber threats, including nation-state actors. Limited resources can make it harder to dedicate people specifically to cybersecurity, older system deployments may not have been designed with today's security challenges in mind, and cyber risks continue to evolve quickly. The important thing is not to assume every utility has the same level of risk. Strong cybersecurity means understanding where the exposures are, improving cyber hygiene, continuously monitoring threats and being prepared to respond 24/7 when something happens.

MB: How busy are you guys already with the water monitoring?
RS: We're only a few weeks into the initiative, so this is still a very exciting stage and things are moving quickly. We're actively working with the Water Watch Center and participating organizations now, and we expect that activity to continue ramping as the program expands. One of the advantages for us is that this isn't a new capability we're standing up specifically for water utilities. It's an extension of the 24/7 monitoring, detection and response we already provide through Defendify, so we're able to build on an existing operating model as more utilities come into the program.

MB: Do you see utilities as an expansion area for cybersecurity?
RS: Yes. Small utilities and other critical infrastructure organizations carry significant cybersecurity responsibilities. Unfortunately, they often don’t have internal security experts or large security budgets but need a strong solution that is comprehensive but still manageable to operate. That is where platforms like Defendify can add value by bringing together broader cybersecurity protection with 24/7 monitoring, detection and response, plus the ongoing expertise, guidance and support needed to help organizations improve over time. Utilities are a strong example of organizations that have that need.

MB: How many Defendify employees are working on this water initiative?
RS: While we don't publicly disclose detailed employee counts or staffing allocations on a certain project, I can share that the Water Watch Center work spans multiple parts of our team, including cybersecurity operations, customer support, product and leadership, and is supported by the same 24/7 capabilities we use to protect customers every day.