Leveraging Asset Management for Cybersecurity in the Water Sector 

By Jeremy Smith, PE, Cybersecurity expert at West Yost

This article contains and answers the following:

In many utilities, asset management and cybersecurity are led by different teams, one focused on maintaining and planning for large physical assets, the other protecting virtual systems and responding to real-time threats. 

But when we look at these two functions side by side, it’s worth asking: 
Does your organization’s Venn diagram of asset management and cybersecurity show overlap or a gap? 

That answer can reveal a lot about your overall operational resilience. As the water sector continues to modernize, utilities are discovering that the path to stronger cybersecurity often runs through the same door as effective asset management. When these efforts converge, utilities unlock new levels of visibility, resilience, and performance. 

At West Yost, we help utilities bridge these disciplines through the principles of Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE), as developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and in alignment with America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) cybersecurity and resilience assessment requirements. 

By integrating asset management and cybersecurity, utilities can move beyond compliance,  toward proactive, data-driven resilience

Asset management can feed cybersecurity: 

• Asset management strengthens cybersecurity by identifying and prioritizing critical process assets, guiding OT hardening, and recommending OT investments. 
• Maintenance planning and tracking provide awareness for cybersecurity teams, helping reduce vulnerabilities during updates and configuration changes. 
• Lifecycle data and condition assessments enhance predictive models, improving both operational reliability and risk management. 

Cybersecurity insights enhance asset management by: 

• Providing policy and protection to safeguard sensitive operational data (OSINT). 
• Informing IT/OT equipment lifecycle planning, reducing surprises in capital budgeting. For example, do you know how to budget for OT components of your next facility upgrades? 
• Creating more frequent and valuable system touchpoints that feed into continuous improvement programs. 

Our teams have supported utilities across the West in adopting CIE frameworks, conducting AWIA-driven cyber assessments, and applying those insights to the design, commissioning, and long-term management of water and wastewater facilities. 

The path to stronger cybersecurity often runs through the same door as effective asset management

By integrating asset management and cybersecurity, utilities can move beyond compliance,  toward proactive, data-driven resilience that protects both digital and physical infrastructure. 

West Yost is advancing cybersecurity in the water sector through smarter asset management and cyber-informed engineering, helping utilities plan, protect, and perform with confidence.