Priority for 2024: CYBERSECURITY

FEATURE
Priority for 2024:
CYBERSECURITY
A look at the audit of one Canadian
water utility, new resources, and more
BY TREENA HEIN
N EARLY DECEMBER 2023, there was disturbing news on
the global cybersecurity front. The Washington Post reported
that, according to unnamed officials and industry experts, “the
Chinese military is ramping up its ability” to disrupt critical
U.S. infrastructure. Hackers affiliated with China’s People’s
Liberation Army, states the Post, have accessed two dozen critical
entities over the past year, and “among the victims was a water
utility in Hawaii.”
This is a stark reminder of the need for continual, excellent
cybersecurity at water utilities in Canada and every other
corner of the world. As mentioned in a 2023 report on the
cybersecurity at Halifax Water by the municipality’s auditor
general, “there have been alerts issued by U.S. government
agencies highlighting an increase in cyberattacks on critical water
systems. In early 2021, a Florida water plant was hacked, and
the hackers attempted to poison the water supply. Later in 2021,
U.S. government agencies issued an alert to warn of ransomware
attacks targeting water facility supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) systems.”
In 2018, the Ontario Clean Water Agency released a statement
noting that a number of Ontario municipalities had fallen victim
to ransomware attacks – the most common of cyberattacks,
where a hacker gains access to IT systems and hold access to data
and/or operational control ransom until a fee is paid, typically
these days in untraceable Bitcoin.
By 2021, the founders of remote infrastructure monitoring
firm Ayyeka reported that “water utilities are attacked by hackers
on a daily basis.” And while this may sound like an exaggeration, note that because there isn’t a legal requirement in many
countries to report these attacks, the public rarely hears about
them. In any case, the high frequency of cyberattacks on water
utilities should be expected. Like hospitals, power plants, and
other critical infrastructure, water utilities are depended on by
our communities every hour of every day, making payment of a
ransom assured.
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WATER C AN ADA • M ARCH/APRIL 2024
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T

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