Don’t Get Hacked: How to Increase Cybersecurity at Your Utility

Wednesday, September 11, 2024: 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM

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Description

This session will provide an overview of some of the cyber threats facing water and wastewater systems and free resources water systems can use to increase their cybersecurity, focusing on the threats and resources most relevant to small and rural systems. The presenters will discuss recent cyberattacks on U.S. water systems, including ransomware attacks and hacks into programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that were publicly exposed to the internet. They will discuss some of the vulnerabilities that were exploited in these attacks as well as top actions water systems of all sizes can take to reduce cyber risk and improve resilience such as changing default passwords and reducing exposures to the public-facing internet. Participants will learn about free services, resources, and tools to support small water systems in implementing these actions, such as vulnerability scanning, employee phishing training, and incident response guidance.

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Track(s)

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  Resilience & Partnerships

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Learning Objectives

Learning Objective #1: Understand cybersecurity threats facing small and rural water and wastewater systems and the impact of recent cyberattacks on water utilities.

Learning Objective #2: Identify the need for small to medium-sized operators to exercise standard cyber hygiene and operational security.

Learning Objective #3: Recognize several free services, resources, and tools they can use to support top actions for securing small water systems.