# White House Launches Texas Water Cybersecurity Pilot

The White House, through the Office of the National Cyber Director, has launched Project Watershed 250, a six-month pilot program in Texas aimed at enhancing cybersecurity defenses for water and wastewater utilities. This initiative involves federal agencies including EPA and CISA, the Texas Cyber Command, and private sector partners such as Microsoft, Invicti Security, Dragos, and Tenable. The program provides no-cost access to advanced AI-driven cybersecurity tools, red teaming exercises, and application security platforms to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in water infrastructure, particularly targeting underresourced and rural utilities. The pilot in San Antonio serves as a test bed for scalable national water system defense models amid increasing cyber threats linked to foreign actors. Concurrently, Invicti Security offers complimentary AppSec platform access to qualifying U.S. water utilities to strengthen defenses against web application and API vulnerabilities.

- **Why this matters:** This program represents a significant federal-state-private collaboration to protect critical water infrastructure, addressing a sector where approximately 97% of utilities lack sufficient cybersecurity resources.
- Procurement professionals should note the involvement of multiple private cybersecurity firms offering advanced tools and services, indicating emerging contract and partnership opportunities.
- Water utilities and contractors can leverage this pilot to access no-cost cybersecurity resources, potentially influencing future procurement requirements and funding allocations.
- Organizations supporting critical infrastructure cybersecurity should evaluate how AI and application security solutions are being integrated into government-led initiatives, informing strategic positioning for upcoming solicitations.

**Jurisdictions:** federal, sled
**Industries:** Public Safety, Information Technology
**Topics:** Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence
**Published:** September 02, 2026

### Government Entities
- Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Texas Cyber Command
- State of Texas

### Vendors
- Invicti Security (prime contractor)
- Microsoft (private sector partner)
- Dragos (industrial cybersecurity company partner)
- Tenable Holdings, Inc. (participant in Project Watershed)
- Reflection AI (private sector partner)

### Key Quotes
> U.S. companies are providing world-class cyber capabilities, red teaming that tests utilities’ current defenses, system hardening using the latest private sector cyber tools and AI tooling that helps utilities’ frontier cyber defenders to protect Texas water systems and scale proven solutions across the country.
> — Sean Cairncross, National Cyber Director

> Defense in depth cannot stop at the network perimeter. Web applications and APIs are an attack path that critical-infrastructure operators cannot afford to ignore. They deserve the same continuous attention as the infrastructure behind them, because you cannot defend what you cannot see.
> — Priyank Savla, Vice President, Invicti Security

> There is nothing more important to Texans than clean, reliable drinking water. Project Watershed 250 puts federal, state, and private-sector cyber defenses behind our utilities at no cost. The White House, the Texas Cyber Command, and industry now work from the same playbook.
> — Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas

### Sources
- [White House to soon launch water provider cyber protection program - Nextgov/FCW](https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2026/08/white-house-soon-launch-water-provider-cyber-protection-program/415650) - Nextgov/FCW
- [White House to soon launch water provider cyber protection program - Nextgov/FCW](https://www.fcw.com/cybersecurity/2026/08/white-house-soon-launch-water-provider-cyber-protection-program/415650) - Nextgov/FCW
- [Following FBI and EPA warnings, Invicti offers complimentary AppSec support to U.S. water utilities - AOL](https://www.aol.ca/articles/following-fbi-epa-warnings-invicti-120000000.html) - AOL.ca