Security News > 2021 > June > Water Sector Security Report Released Just as Another Water Plant Hack Comes to Light
The Water Sector Coordinating Council last week announced a new cybersecurity report focusing on water and wastewater utilities in the United States.
The release of the report coincided with news that a threat actor in January attempted to poison the water at a facility in the U.S. The Water Sector Coordinating Council describes itself as "a policy, strategy and coordination mechanism for the Water and Wastewater Sector in interactions with the government and other sectors on critical infrastructure security and resilience issues."
The organization in April surveyed 606 individuals working at water and wastewater utilities in the U.S. to get a better understanding of the sector in terms of cybersecurity.
The same day the report was published, NBC News revealed that a hacker attempted to poison an unnamed water treatment plant that serves parts of the San Francisco Bay Area on January 15.
The 22-page report released last week by the Water Sector Coordinating Council contains some interesting information on the cybersecurity needs and challenges of this sector in the United States.
"Like all sectors, water and wastewater systems are targets, directly or indirectly, of cyber attackers, but complicating any set of solutions is the demographics of the sector. There are approximately 52,000 community water systems and approximately 16,000 wastewater systems in the United States," the report reads.