Meeting/Event Information

In late July 2026, a coordinated wave of cyberattacks struck municipal water systems across the Midwest, targeting the operational technology that keeps drinking water flowing. More than 30 Minnesota community water systems were affected, alongside utilities in neighboring states and at least a dozen states nationwide. The attacks focused on programmable logic controllers, pumps, valves, and remote monitoring rather than enterprise IT, forcing some operators into manual operations, prompting boil water notices, and drawing a coordinated federal and state response amid indications of nation state activity.

For our September chapter meeting, MN ISSA convenes a panel of industry experts spanning federal cybersecurity advisory, operational technology security, and state level incident response to unpack what happened, why the water sector remains uniquely exposed, and what defenders across every critical infrastructure sector can take from it.

The discussion will explore the anatomy of the attacks, the realities of securing legacy OT environments, the coordination between federal and state responders, and the practical steps utilities and their partners can take now to reduce risk. Whether you work in critical infrastructure, OT security, incident response, or governance and compliance, this session offers a frank, ground level look at one of the most consequential infrastructure security events to reach our region.

Meet the panelists...

Angela Hary

Angela Hary, GICSP, CISSP, is a Cyber Navigator with the Security Operations Center at MN IT Services (MNIT), specializing in cybersecurity for Minnesota’s critical infrastructure. Her role at MNIT centers on advancing long-term cyber resilience in essential services. She helps to strengthen the security posture of water and wastewater utilities by providing guidance and resources that support OT/ICS environments, building operational partnerships, and addressing emerging risks to critical systems.

Chris Gabbard

Mr. Gabbard serves as a Supervisory Cybersecurity Advisor (SCSA) for Region 5 (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, he supports CISA’s mission to strengthen the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure by facilitating information sharing, providing cybersecurity guidance, and delivering preventive services to public and private sector partners.

Before joining CISA, Chris served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Ramsey County, Minnesota. His prior experience includes roles in IT audit and risk management with PricewaterhouseCoopers, ING, and U.S. Bank. Mr. Gabbard holds the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) credentials. He earned bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Management Information Systems from the University of Northern Iowa.

Martin Diaz

Martin Diaz is part of the Operational Technology (OT) Security channel team at Fortinet. In this role, his primary responsibility is partner OT Security enablement. Prior to Fortinet, Martin was the director of the OT Security practice for NTT Security in the Americas region where he was responsible for leading a group of cyber security consultants to serve NTT’s customers by solving their most complex OT security problems. 
Martin was previously the Global Modernization Consultant / Offer Manager for Schneider Electric’s Industry Services business unit. Prior to that, Martin worked for General Electric Intelligent Platforms, a subsidiary of General Electric Company, where he worked on the development of professional services strategies for plant wide projects for both Remote Monitoring and Diagnostic Services and Manufacturing Execution Systems.

Kevin White

Kevin White is a Senior Solutions Consultant at Enhanced Information Solutions (EIS), where he serves water utilities and other critical infrastructure operators as both technical advisor and hands-on partner — leading his team through the full life of a project, from assessment to integration to training, so operators are never left to manage the outcome alone. Grounded in a servant-leadership approach, Kevin's work is less about pushing technology and more about listening first: understanding where a utility's people and processes are strained, then building the OT cybersecurity and data-integrity solutions that actually serve them.