Hack at Water Company Serving 14M Customers Including Military Bases

Regulators and cyber watchdogs have warned for years of the need for critical infrastructure entities to shore up their cyber defenses against attack.  An October attack on a water company shows the continued need for vigilance.  The company disabled certain operations out of an abundance of caution, but says that only billing operations were directly affected and messaged that customers would not be subject to late fees if the hack affected their payments.  

WHY IT MATTERS

Although the hack took down only billing operations, it shows how widespread the impact could be if a threat reached any operational systems.  In this case, the target company is a water utility serving 14 states and 18 military bases, with a total customer population of about 14M.  

An attack early this year in the healthcare sector took down billing systems and managed to paralyze the delivery of certain care because providers could not process claims.    

Together, these attacks are good reminders that “back office” functions can create vulnerability for any cyber target.