Maintaining Voluntary Measures for Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Could be Deadly
A water system in Florida [1] has been accessed by an unknown intruder who made an attempt to alter the chemical balances used to treat water in a way that could have been deadly if not caught. Thankfully, it was.
While we do not yet know and may never know the identity or intent of the perpetrator, we do know one thing for certain — the security of America’s critical infrastructure is woefully inadequate.
In the case of the Oldsmar, FL water system, the system was accessible over the public internet through a notoriously insecure piece of software that provides remote access to computer systems. This setup, designed for expedience, not security, goes against the most basic understanding of how to secure critical infrastructure.