# NIST Strengthens Water Utility OT Security

NIST has outlined three reference architectures for securing remote access to operational technology (OT) at water and wastewater utilities: on-premises firewalls and remote-access servers, cloud-managed access for resource-constrained utilities, and encrypted system-to-system communications. The guidance gives utilities and contractors concrete design options for improving remote access security, while NIST’s anticipated call for collaborators on its OT Asset Management and Visibility project may create an opportunity for industry participation.

- Utilities and contractors can use the architectures to inform OT cybersecurity planning and evaluate solutions for identity management, network segmentation, encryption, logging, and asset inventory.
- Companies offering these capabilities can assess how their products and services map to the three reference approaches when developing proposals for water and wastewater utility work.
- NIST’s upcoming collaborator call may provide a route for organizations with relevant technical expertise to contribute to the OT Asset Management and Visibility project; no deadline is specified in the signal.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Energy & Utilities, Information Technology
**Topics:** Cybersecurity
**Published:** October 05, 2026

### Government Entities
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE)

### Sources
- [
		NIST outlines secure remote access strategies to strengthen water and wastewater OT cybersecurity - Industrial Cyber	](https://industrialcyber.co/secure-remote-access/nist-outlines-secure-remote-access-strategies-to-strengthen-water-and-wastewater-ot-cybersecurity) - Industrial Cyber