Security News > 2021 > April > US Looks to Keep Critical Sectors Safe From Cyberattacks
A top Biden administration official says the government is undertaking a new effort to help electric utilities, water districts and other critical industries protect against potentially damaging cyberattacks.
The public-private partnership reflects the administration's concerns about the vulnerability of vital systems, including the electric grid and water treatment plants, to hacks that could cause catastrophic consequences to American life.
In the first, Russian hackers snuck malicious code into a software update pushed out to thousands of government agencies and private companies.
The second even more widespread hack affected untold thousands of Microsoft Exchange email servers, a breach the company says was carried out by Chinese state hackers.
Neuberger said there were "Gaps" in basic cybersecurity defenses at some of the nine agencies affected, which has hampered officials' ability to determine what the hackers accessed.
A local sheriff said that the water supply of Oldsmar, population 15,000, was briefly in danger when an unknown hacker used a remote access program shared by plant workers to briefly increased the amount of lye - sodium hydroxide - by a factor of 100.