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Water Utility Attacks Highlight Five Priorities for Cyber Resilience

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Summary

Recent attacks on water utilities highlight risks from exposed OT, weak visibility, and poorly governed vendor access. The article outlines steps to improve resilience, including asset inventories, network segmentation, tested response plans, and manual fallback.

Key points

  • Some utilities restored authorized access before public-safety impacts occurred, but attacks were discovered through operational effects rather than cybersecurity alerts.
  • A scan for one PLC-related port found nearly 3,000 internet-exposed devices, more than 1,800 in the United States.
  • Utilities are urged to inventory IT and OT assets and remote-access paths, and remove unnecessary internet exposure or place exposed systems behind appropriate security controls.
  • Network segmentation, monitored and time-limited vendor access, and security reviews of connectivity can reduce OT risk.
  • Documented manual operating procedures, trained staff, and regularly exercised emergency plans can limit disruption during an incident.
  • The article recommends using sector resources and treating cybersecurity as a public-safety and leadership priority, not solely an IT concern.

Article Details

Topic
Cyber resilience and operational resilience for water and wastewater utilities, based on lessons from recent attacks.

People

Randy RoseArticle author and Senior Vice President, Security Operations and Intelligence at the Center for Internet Security.

Products

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)The flip side is that many Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and other OT devices are accessible from the open internet, despite basic security controls being widely available and cost-effective.

Tools

ShodanOne thing you can do today: Search your organization on Shodan.

Countries

United StatesA quick scan for a single network port used by one specific type of PLC revealed nearly 3,000 exposed devices with over 1,800 being in the United States.

Industries

Water and wastewater utilitiesWater and wastewater utilities have quietly become one of the most targeted sectors in critical infrastructure, and recent incidents across multiple states are making that reality impossible to ignore.

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