AWWA Water Champion – Andrew Ohrt, Duluth, Minnesota
October 17, 2024
AWWA Articles
AWWA Water Champion – Andrew Ohrt, Duluth, Minnesota
Andrew Ohrt, based in Duluth, Minnesota, leads West Yost Associates’ resilience practice providing cybersecurity and cyber-resilience services. October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month to promote the importance of protecting critical water infrastructure from cyber threats.
Education/certification: B.A., Physics, Gustavus Adolphus College; M.S., Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota; Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP); Professional Engineer (Alaska, Minnesota, Washington); Certified Idaho National Laboratory National (INL) and Homeland Security Instructor; Eagle Scout.
How and why did you get into the water sector? In 2013, I was looking to make a career change but didn’t quite know what to do. One morning I was driving to work underneath the new Interstate-35W bridge in Minneapolis. It is a very impressive structure, and it struck me that I wanted to work in critical infrastructure resilience.
How do you see cybersecurity advancing within the water sector? I think there are going to be two main advancements. First, regulations will be put in place that require minimum cybersecurity practices for most U.S. water and wastewater utilities. Second, designing water and wastewater systems with cyber risk explicitly considered will become part of the standard of care to which all licensed engineers are held. Both advancements are necessary for the sector to address the cybersecurity challenges ahead of us.
What is one of your proudest accomplishments? I’ll give you two! Recently, working with Idaho National Laboratory in support of its national security mission has been a real privilege. At the same time, I have a water utility client that I’ve worked with continuously for more than 11 years. Being on the journey with them for that long has been extremely meaningful.
What advice do you have for water professionals regarding cybersecurity threats? From a management perspective, nothing gets done without funding. Even if you don’t have a clear plan yet, set aside funding and then build the plan. Waiting for a normal planning cycle to make real improvements will take too long.
From a cybersecurity perspective – get the basics right. There are relatively few common cybersecurity recommendations across all of the agencies and professional organizations. Start with www.awwa.org/cybersecurity and go from there.
From an engineering perspective – start to engineer your systems with the concepts of Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE). More and more engineers are starting to believe this is the path to improved cyber resilience for all critical infrastructure. This is about changing how we engineer our systems, explicitly considering cyberattacks aimed at damaging or manipulating our water and wastewater systems.
How have you benefited from your AWWA membership? AWWA has created many opportunities for me. I am a member of several committees with my longest tenure being on the Emergency Preparedness and Security Committee. I also enjoy being the Journal AWWA Emergency, Preparedness and Security column coordinator.
While most of my AWWA participation has been at the national level, I have been participating more with the Minnesota Section. I’ve enjoyed being in the Section community and always look forward to seeing my friends from around the state.
What is one action all water systems should take to protect against cybersecurity attacks? Take a hard look at how your system is engineered and how prepared your staff are to withstand a cyber-attack. Start with the assumption that the attacker is inside your system. I don’t suggest this to focus on the “fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD)”. Too many cybersecurity conversations wind up there. I suggest this approach because it helps utility staff focus on how the systems are engineered and the capabilities of operations staff to respond to a cyber-incident. Often, utilities recognize many great things they are already doing. Finding those good things provides the utility with something to build on.
Describe your family and personal interests: I have been married to my wife, Mara, for 17 years. We have three sons, Axel (13), Daggan (13) and Anders (9). Much of my time is spent with them exploring the area where we live around Duluth. In the spring, we tap maple trees for syrup. In the summer, we garden, mountain bike on local trails, and hike on the Superior Hiking Trail. In the fall we harvest fruit from our apple, plum, and cherry trees and stockpile firewood for the winter.
What would surprise people to know about you? We live a few miles from Lake Superior, which holds 10% of the world’s fresh surface water. We go swimming in the lake year-round. It has become a tradition for us to go for a dip on New Year’s Day when the water temperature is in the mid-30s.
Anything else you’d like to add? I am a co-author on a forthcoming book on cyber-resilience for the water sector slated for publication in the second half of 2025. The book will be published through AWWA. Please pick up a copy and embrace the principles.