It is estimated that over 90% of the more than 50,000 community water systems and approximately 17,000 wastewater systems in the U.S. are rural or small municipal systems serving populations of less than 10,000. These rural utilities face the same ongoing challenges as large utilities do - those related to aging infrastructure, severely limited funding, and the need to comply with (non-cyber) regulations. However, for rural utilities these legacy issues result in cybersecurity rarely (if ever) making the to-do list. This session will set the stage with a threat briefing on the cyber threats impacting water and wastewater utilities and emphasize the importance of maintaining at least a high-level awareness of the cyber threat environment. We’ll then discuss a few basic (no-cost and low-cost) actions that rural utilities can do (and stop doing) to improve the safety, cybersecurity, and overall resilience of their systems.
Instructor: Jennifer Lyn Walker, WaterISAC
CEUs: 0.2 Drinking Water/Wastewater
Cost: Free
Location: Online using Microsoft Teams
