Insta played a key role in the VESKY project, an initiative aimed at strengthening the operational resilience and cybersecurity of Finland’s water sector. The ELY-funded collaborative project, which ran for eighteen months, was completed in August 2025. Today, its results benefit water utilities, individual organizations, and society as a whole.
A Collaborative Project Born from a Shared Need
Cybersecurity and operational resilience in the water sector are critical to the functioning of society. However, many water utilities are relatively small organizations with limited resources, making systematic cybersecurity development challenging.
A common framework was needed to improve cybersecurity across the entire sector through a risk-based approach that could be applied beyond organizational boundaries. Launched in February 2024, the VESKY project brought Insta’s expertise to the forefront, while the exceptionally broad collaboration between stakeholders demonstrated how joint development efforts can deliver tangible results.
A Common Framework with Tailored Implementation
The Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY) served as the lead organization for the project, which involved several water utilities from across Finland. In addition to joint workshops, each participating utility selected work packages that matched its level of cybersecurity maturity. The five major work streams covered security policies, maturity assessment, cyber risk assessment and management, information security incident response processes, as well as IT and OT architecture design and asset management.
The participating utilities selected implementation partners from a range of expert organizations, and many chose Insta as their trusted partner.
"For eighteen months, VESKY was a major part of our daily work. Insta’s expertise and industry experience were key factors in the project’s success. Insta is a well-known and trusted player in the sector, with established collaboration networks across the industry,” says Joonas Väyrynen, Chief Information Security Officer at HSY, who was responsible for the project’s planning and coordination.
Expertise Translated into Practical Solutions
According to Väyrynen, Insta’s contribution stood out through its extensive experience in critical infrastructure sectors and its high level of expertise, resulting in practical and easily adoptable solutions.
Insta’s risk management specialist reviewed a vast amount of international material, identified best practices, and transformed them into ready-made recommendations. The same thorough approach was reflected in the architecture and asset management work packages.
”The risk management concept was particularly strong: clear, straightforward, and immediately usable without requiring a separate implementation phase. I have been able to adopt workshop models and tools from the project directly into my own daily work.”
Insta’s broad expertise was evident throughout the project, combining deep knowledge of information security with a strong understanding of operational technology (OT) environments.
Impact Beyond Individual Organizations
The process models and governance frameworks developed during the project are now available for anyone to use. This enables even smaller water utilities to begin improving their cybersecurity capabilities before regulatory requirements make such measures mandatory.
The project’s outputs have already been adopted beyond the water sector. For example, organizations in the ICT sector have drawn lessons from the models developed, and the project’s impact continues to be visible in participating organizations.
”The project has been extremely valuable in my own work. The effort to embed and further develop these practices continues,” says Väyrynen.
The project was equally significant for Insta.
”VESKY provided an opportunity to strengthen cybersecurity across Finland’s water sector together with industry stakeholders. Critical infrastructure is an important focus area for us, so being involved in the project was meaningful for the entire team and a source of pride throughout Insta," comments an Insta expert.
“Cybersecurity Is a Measure of Quality”
Väyrynen challenges the perception that cybersecurity is an overly complex discipline. In his view, organizations should build cybersecurity on top of capabilities they already possess.
”The water sector has been preparing for disruptions for more than 150 years. It is therefore natural to build cybersecurity development on top of existing resilience and preparedness expertise.”
At the same time, he emphasizes that cybersecurity is an ongoing process: the more organizations improve their governance and controls, the more new development opportunities they identify.
”Cybersecurity is not a separate task. It is a lens through which everything should be viewed. When approached this way, it becomes a guarantee of quality: cybersecurity and quality are essentially one and the same .”
According to Väyrynen, the VESKY project further strengthened Insta’s position as a trusted cybersecurity expert for critical infrastructure. Ensuring the resilience of Finnish society requires organizations like Insta that combine deep expertise with practical implementation capabilities.