October 8, 2024 at 11:35AM
American Water, the largest publicly traded water utility in the US, experienced a cyberattack on Oct. 3, causing outages in its online systems and telecom services. Although its water facilities were not immediately impacted, the incident prompted concern about cybersecurity in critical infrastructure. Efforts to enhance cybersecurity measures at water utilities have met with regulatory challenges.
Meeting Notes Takeaways:
– The largest publicly traded water utility in the US experienced a cyberattack on Oct. 3, resulting in the company shutting down some connected systems and services.
– American Water serves over 14 million customers across 14 states and 18 military installations, with about 6,500 employees.
– The company detected unauthorized activity in its computer networks and sought assistance from third-party cybersecurity experts to contain and mitigate the attack.
– The incident affected the company’s online customer-facing sites, including its website and “MyWater” customer portal, as well as its telecommunications system.
– At present, the water and wastewater facilities and operations have not been negatively impacted, but the full extent of the damage is still under investigation.
– There has been a growing concern about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in essential services like water utilities, leading to regulatory efforts to enhance cybersecurity measures.
– Quick containment actions, restoration of systems, and transparency with the public are critical for the company’s recovery from the cyberattack.
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