Eric Forner, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Armexa, participated in the San Antonio launch of Project Watershed 250 on August 31. This six-month joint federal and state pilot program connects Texas water and wastewater utilities with cybersecurity resources and support at no cost.
As part of the event, Forner and Marco Ayala of ABS Group presented shared research that highlights how emerging industrial communication technologies can introduce new risks when not properly secured. The launch brought together public- and private-sector cybersecurity leaders around a shared goal: helping water utilities, especially smaller and rural providers with limited cybersecurity resources, identify and address vulnerabilities that could affect operational reliability and resilience.
Forner leads Armexa’s technical strategy and works with asset owners across critical infrastructure sectors to develop and implement practical OT cybersecurity architectures and security programs. Armexa specializes in helping operators understand and manage cyber risk in the systems that support essential services, including drinking water and wastewater treatment.
Digital controls, remote access, and data-sharing tools are now standard across water and wastewater operations. Each one adds a potential entry point that utilities have to secure. Project Watershed 250 aims to help utilities better understand their cyber exposure and prioritize improvements that strengthen security while supporting safe, reliable operations.
The research by Forner and Ayala shows how protocols such as MQTT and Sparkplug B, increasingly deployed to support Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) architectures, can be misconfigured or abused to create operational risk. Originally presented at the SANS ICS Security Summit in June 2026, “Out of Control II: Abusing MQTT and Sparkplug B for Distributed Kinetic Attacks,” the research examines how trusted communications can be manipulated to introduce false data and impersonate devices. Without appropriate safeguards, these actions can disrupt industrial processes or compromise safety.
As Project Watershed 250 moves forward, the initiative’s goal is to provide participating utilities with practical guidance and resources to improve their cybersecurity posture across the water sector.
Project Watershed 250 addresses the same challenge that Armexa helps critical infrastructure operators solve every day. Armexa’s approach starts with consequence: what happens if a system fails, not just whether it can be breached. Through cybersecurity engineering and operationally informed security programs, Armexa helps operators fix the vulnerabilities that matter most without compromising the safety, reliability, or availability of critical operations.
To learn more about Armexa’s water and wastewater cybersecurity services, contact info@armexa.com.
