White House Readies Plan to Boost Cybersecurity of Water Supply – The Wall Street Journal
The Biden administration is readying a proposal to shore up the cybersecurity of the U.S. water supply, a system maintained by thousands of organizations with sometimes glaring vulnerabilities to hackers.
The plan broadens a White House initiative to persuade key industrial companies to upgrade technology for detecting cyberattacks. U.S. officials hope water utilities will analyze and voluntarily report such data to help authorities monitor threats to different types of critical infrastructure.
The White House previously said it would expand the program to water utilities this year as part of a push to prevent hackers from breaking into the increasingly digitized control systems of industrial firms.
Water-sector trade groups are evaluating the draft blueprint and potential technology needs, how U.S. officials would support the effort and the types of data the government wants, said
Kevin Morley,
manager of federal relations for the American Water Works Association.
“It gives visibility to our federal partners,” said Mr. Morley. “But how is that information shared back for the net good of the sector, or other sectors, for that matter?”
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The White House launched its Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative in April during a 100-day “sprint” to shore up the security of electric utilities. The program was expanded in August to include natural-gas pipelines. Adding the water sector to the program would mark the latest attempt to harden privately or publicly operated infrastructure that historically has operated with few cyber regulations.
Security experts say defending the water supply should take on urgency because of growing threats to the sector and the dated technology of some utilities. In February, a hacker accessed an Oldsmar, Fla., water utility’s control system and attempted to increase the amount of lye used to treat the water to a potentially dangerous level. U.S. officials in October warned of “ongoing malicious cyber activity” against water utilities, citing three ransomware attacks this year.
As a part of the White House plan, the Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the cybersecurity of water utilities, will work with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to help utilities improve their ability to spot such attacks, an EPA spokesman said.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, right, at a press conference in February after a hacker accessed an Oldsmar, Fla., water utility’s control system.
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