On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an enforcement alert warning of cyberattacks on community drinking water systems across the nation.
The EPA stated that its inspections found that over 70% of water systems did not “fully comply with requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act and that some of those systems have critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities.” The EPA noted that default passwords have not been updated and single logins being used leave the systems vulnerable. It also suggested system operators reduce exposure to public-facing internet, conduct regular cybersecurity assessments, change default passwords immediately, and conduct an inventory of OT/IT assets, among other tasks.
“In many cases, systems are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is to have completed a risk assessment of their vulnerabilities that includes cybersecurity and to…
