As the National Rural Water Association and DEF CON Franklin launch a new initiative to counter nation-state cyberattacks, Defendify will deliver the 24/7 monitoring and managed detection and response small water utility teams need.
PORTLAND, Maine (August 7, 2026)— Defendify, provider of an all-in-one cybersecurity platform built for small and mid-sized organizations, today announced it has been named a founding provider of the Water Watch Center, a new initiative from the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) and DEF CON Franklin launched at the DEF CON 2026 conference in Las Vegas. The WATER WATCH CENTER was formed to help small water and wastewater utilities defend against the sharp rise in cyberattacks, including from nation-state adversaries.
Defendify’s platform combines 24/7 threat monitoring and managed detection and response (MDR) with employee security awareness training, vulnerability assessments and foundational policies and procedures. The solution is backed by a dedicated cybersecurity advisor and delivered through a single, streamlined cybersecurity platform. That design is built for exactly the utilities the Water Watch Center serves: water and wastewater systems running critical operational technology (OT) with limited staff and no dedicated security team. As a founding provider, Defendify will deliver around-the-clock cybersecurity monitoring, detection and response to participating utilities and share threat intelligence with the program’s other providers.
“Small and rural water utilities face the same nation-state threats as major cities, but almost none of the resources to protect themselves,” said Rob Simopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of Defendify. “That gap is exactly why Defendify exists. We built our platform so lean teams can get enterprise-grade protection without needing a security staff of their own, and we’re proud to bring that approach to the utilities the Water Watch Center aims to protect.”
“Being a founding provider means our team is in the room from day one, collaborating with the other providers and adapting as the program grows,” Simopoulos added. “Our goal is to give even the smallest participating water utilities access to the kind of monitoring and response available to much larger organizations, without requiring the budget or in-house expertise they simply don’t have.”
The Water Watch Center builds on a two-year effort in which DEF CON Franklin recruited nearly 450 volunteer hackers to work directly with water and wastewater utilities in seven states. Defendify and its four fellow founding providers will help water utilities across the United States, including small and rural utilities serving fewer than 10,000 people, which make up 91% of the roughly 150,000 community water systems in the country. The initiative is led by the National Rural Water Association and DEF CON Franklin with support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies. DARPA and Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems are also participating, building “digital twins” of Water Watch Center utility environments to test and refine automated defensive approaches, with the long-term goal of broader deployment..
About Defendify
Defendify provides All-In-One Cybersecurity® that delivers comprehensive protection through a single, integrated platform and security expertise. Based in Portland, Maine, the company serves organizations seeking robust cybersecurity without operational complexity. Learn more at www.defendify.com.
For more information on Defendify’s participation, visit defendify.info/water.
For more information on the Water Watch Center or DEF CON Franklin, visit defconfranklin.com.
