Biden administration developed plan for digital protection of water supply systems
2023.03.03 13:22
Biden administration developed plan for digital protection of water supply systems
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – On Friday, the Biden administration unveiled a brand-new strategy to enhance the public water systems’ digital defenses.
The move comes one day after the White House announced a national cybersecurity strategy that aims to significantly increase industry accountability for the cybersecurity of critical American infrastructure, like dams and hospitals.
Following a number of high-profile hacking incidents in recent years, the water system plan recommends a series of novel rules that place more responsibility for the security of water facilities at the state level.
In February 2021, a cyberattack on a water treatment plant in Florida temporarily raised the level of lye in the water. If an alert worker hadn’t caught the hack quickly, the incident could have been fatal. An administration official claims that in March 2019, a terminated employee at a water facility in Kansas used his old computer credentials to remotely shut down systems.
According to a senior representative of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the threat is so urgent that the government is taking immediate action.
Underscoring the current danger, assistant administrator Radhika Fox stated that hackers had “shut down critical treatment processes” and “locked control system networks behind ransomware.”
However, according to some experts, the new plan won’t do enough to help secure systems.
Mark Montgomery, a former executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a U.S. government-backed policymaking group, claims that the water industry has long been considered vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Montgomery, on the other hand, stated that the administration’s strategy of tying cybersecurity audits to existing sanitary surveys is insufficient.
Montgomery stated, “The states are in no better position, but the EPA is not in a position to perform its responsibilities due to insufficient personnel and resources.”
“EPA should collaborate with water utilities and establish a joint government-industry organization to establish standards, provide assessment tools, and audit the results rather than passing the buck,” the article states.
Officials from the EPA claim to have implemented a “robust technical assistance program” to assist public water systems that require cyber support.
The announcement made by the administration on Friday was also criticized by the water treatment industry.
American Water’s (NYSE:) executive director of government affairs, Tracy Mehan “All sorts of practical problems, which unfortunately, the government seems to be ignoring,” the Works Association stated of the plan.
