The EPA warns that 70% of America's 148,000 public water systems failed basic cybersecurity checks since September, leaving them vulnerable to attacks that could disrupt treatment and alter chemical levels. Water utilities operate on tight budgets and have historically neglected cybersecurity compared to power grids.
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From the Environmental Protection Agency, not only the safe— not about the safety of our drinking water.
That's right, but as Fox 5's Kendall Green shows us, just how vulnerable our water utilities and supplies could be to hackers.
The EPA now flagging cybersecurity threats leaking into our nation's water systems. The country's more than 148,000 public water systems are locally owned and operated with a wide range of budgets. Rick Geddes is a professor of infrastructure policy at Cornell University.
So that means a lot of these systems are stretched fiscally. They don't— they just have enough budget to keep the water system running.
Tech has become so vital in maintaining water systems, and the EPA reported 70% of inspections since last September found water systems failed to meet cybersecurity standards, leaving them exposed to potential breaches.
It would stop the water from flowing.
Consequences of cyberattacks to drinking water and water waste systems, the agency reports, include interruptions to treatment and storage, damage to pumps and valves, and hazardous changes to chemical levels in our water.
Cybersecurity is not something, uh, that they've been focused on as much as, say, large power grids. And so this is sort of new to them, and it's, it's again a wake-up call.
EPA is instructing water providers to consistently change passwords, develop stronger risk assessment plans, and set up backup systems, offering federal assistance to take those steps.
But cybersecurity expert Robert Siciliano recommends operators use third-party Managed security service providers are third-party security services that will provide vulnerability scanning, antivirus, and system upgrades to prevent intrusions.
Now, those smaller staffs and tighter budgets complicate building a defense against cybersecurity. The EPA recommends every water system takes every step to ensure that doesn't become a reality. On the Upper East Side, Kendall Green, Fox 5 News.
