USA: New laws to protect water systems

USA: New laws to protect water systems

Washington, 3/14/2023

The US is implementing new laws designed to protect water systems from hackers. The decision comes as water resource management facilities in the country have suffered multiple cyber attacks.

The new legislation requires state governments to review the cybersecurity practices of public water systems.

This decision was made due to the fact that many establishments have allegedly failed to take basic security measures to protect themselves and their customers.

The US water sector includes more than 148,000 public water systems.

Just weeks after the Biden administration began, in February 2021, a hacker infiltrated a Florida water treatment plant and attempted to increase the amount of sodium hydroxide to potentially dangerous levels. A plant worker noticed what was going on and manually stopped the system before it ejected contaminated water.

The FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have warned of several ransomware attacks targeting the computer networks of water and wastewater facilities from California to Maine.