A Florida city was investigated by OSHA due to a whistleblower being fired after reporting system faults that led to contaminated drinking water. 

The EPA is stressing the need to improve the cybersecurity of drinking water systems to better defend critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.

An Alaskan fishing vessel has been cited again by OSHA for improper sanitation, hazardous food and water storage and electrical hazards. 

Protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks continues to grow in importance, and the next sector of interest is water supply and storage.  

The Howard Bend Water Plant facility conducted a tabletop exercise, focused on incident information sharing procedures, and emergency response and recovery operations.

A new collaborative effort will focus on developing high-impact cybersecurity resilience strategies within 100 days to safeguard the water and wastewater sector.

Water and wastewater (WWS) facilities are under attack, along with the recent increase in critical infrastructure cyberattacks. A joint statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) details recent attacks and what WWS systems can do to bolster their cyber defense.

Cybercriminals have targeted the Bay Area water supply. Similar to the Oldsmar water treatment attack in Florida, the threat actor used legitimate credentials to break into remote access tool TeamViewer. After logging in, they deleted programs that the plant used to treat drinking water.

Attacks on water systems can come in various forms, not only from pure physical threats. Having a strong and diligent workforce that emphasizes security and basic methods of cyber protection is imperative.