Leading global water technology company, Xylem Inc., and Dragos, Inc., the global leader in cybersecurity for industrial controls systems (ICS)/operational technology (OT) environments, have announced they have partnered to bring best-in-class industrial cybersecurity to critical infrastructure in the water sector.
The agreement will see Xylem and Dragos offering co-branded incident response and incident prevention services to Xylem’s water utility customers worldwide. The partnership brings water utilities the most experienced teams of digital water experts and industrial cybersecurity practitioners.
“We’re enthusiastic about bringing to water operators the combination of Xylem’s leadership in digital transformation, and Dragos’ world-class expertise in securing critical infrastructure,” said Nick Nedostup, Xylem’s chief information security officer. “Modernizing water infrastructure with digital technology delivers dramatic benefits – lowering costs and reducing both energy and emissions while also making communities more resilient in the face of climate change. And because water is so essential, water infrastructure deserves the very best security against cyber threats.”
“Achieving strong industrial cybersecurity in the water sector requires the whole-of-network view across water systems that our partnership with Xylem will bring to water utility customers worldwide,” said Troy Roberts, vice president of worldwide sales, Dragos Inc. “Dragos and Xylem share a commitment to enhancing the safety, availability, and resiliency of critical infrastructure in water and Xylem’s breadth and leadership in digital water solutions make them a natural partner to solve these customer challenges in water utilities worldwide.”
The Xylem-Dragos Incident Response Service builds on Xylem’s robust product security framework, and works in conjunction with utilities’ existing security systems, providing an extra layer of protection. The partnership can also deliver both proactive threat hunting in addition to rapid response, increasing uptime and operational certainty. The service, available on a retainer basis, hardens industrial control systems to prevent incidents, rapidly responds to industrial intrusions, and reduces mean time to recovery.