Accenture's acquisition of a majority stake in Dragos and full ownership of runZero and NetRise reflects growing urgency across the cybersecurity industry to defend critical infrastructure against nation-state threats, particularly those attributed to China.
Iranian-linked hackers reportedly breached California Water Service by pivoting through an open-source GPS correction tool to then access billing systems. The alleged intrusion laid bare security failures that federal inspectors had already flagged across hundreds of U.S. water systems.
IRGC-affiliated actors used legitimate engineering software to compromise American water, energy, and government systems. A new report ties the hacktivist ecosystem to Iranian intelligence, enabling them to communicate directly with Iranian intelligence.
Cybersecurity has outgrown the SOC. As attacks spill into water systems, hospitals, and critical infrastructure, OT.SEC.CON will bring together the practitioners, policymakers, and operators redefining what defense looks like when cyber risk becomes physical risk.
The tens of thousands of at-risk water utilities across this country are still out there — now slightly more aware of how exposed they are, which isn’t exactly progress.
Critical infrastructure organizations reported thousands of incidents in the covered period, and year-over-year data shows a roughly 180% increase in the exploitation of vulnerabilities as an initial access path, concentrated heavily on edge devices and remote access infrastructure.
ICIT Executive Director Valerie Moon says the United States remains unprepared for critical infrastructure attacks that come with modern geopolitical conflict.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s 2026 Annual Threat Assessment (ATA) highlights escalating risks to the U.S. from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and aggressive ransomware actors, emphasizing pre-positioning in key systems for potential disruption during crises.
Dragos CEO and National Guard Lt. Col. Rob Lee warns that cyber operations targeting civilian infrastructure, from hospitals to water systems, are crossing a dangerous line the cybersecurity community must confront directly.
