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Local authorities urgently transferred the management of the enterprise to manual mode.
A cyberattack was recently recorded at a water treatment plant in Arkansas City, Kansas, which forced local authorities to switch the control of the plant to manual mode. The incident occurred on the morning of September 22, it was promptly reported to the relevant services. Currently, the investigation is being conducted by employees of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
City Manager Randy Fraser said that the city's water supply system is operating normally, and there are no threats to water safety. According to him, measures to switch to manual control were taken only for precautionary reasons in order to prevent any failures in the operation of the station.
Cybersecurity specialists are working to eliminate the consequences of the attack and restore automatic control. The authorities assure that enhanced protection measures have been introduced, and no changes in the quality or availability of water supply are expected.
However, citizens were informed about temporary problems with water pumps, which caused low water pressure in some areas of the city last weekend.
Ironically, the incident came just two days after a warning issued by the nonprofit Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC), which reported possible cyberattacks on water systems.
And the day before, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published recommendations to strengthen the cybersecurity of water and wastewater systems, urging their operators to take additional measures to prevent attacks.
The U.S. water sector has been hit by cyberattacks in the past, including by hacker groups linked to Iran and China. Previously, incidents have already been recorded that entailed not just a commotion in the IT department, but a complete shutdown of water supply systems in a number of American states.
Source
A cyberattack was recently recorded at a water treatment plant in Arkansas City, Kansas, which forced local authorities to switch the control of the plant to manual mode. The incident occurred on the morning of September 22, it was promptly reported to the relevant services. Currently, the investigation is being conducted by employees of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
City Manager Randy Fraser said that the city's water supply system is operating normally, and there are no threats to water safety. According to him, measures to switch to manual control were taken only for precautionary reasons in order to prevent any failures in the operation of the station.
Cybersecurity specialists are working to eliminate the consequences of the attack and restore automatic control. The authorities assure that enhanced protection measures have been introduced, and no changes in the quality or availability of water supply are expected.
However, citizens were informed about temporary problems with water pumps, which caused low water pressure in some areas of the city last weekend.
Ironically, the incident came just two days after a warning issued by the nonprofit Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC), which reported possible cyberattacks on water systems.
And the day before, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published recommendations to strengthen the cybersecurity of water and wastewater systems, urging their operators to take additional measures to prevent attacks.
The U.S. water sector has been hit by cyberattacks in the past, including by hacker groups linked to Iran and China. Previously, incidents have already been recorded that entailed not just a commotion in the IT department, but a complete shutdown of water supply systems in a number of American states.
Source
