White House Announces Industrial Control Systems Water and Wastewater Sector Action Plan

In a continued effort to bolster national cybersecurity defenses and information-sharing, the Biden Administration introduced the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative – Water and Wastewater Sector Action Plan on January 27^th, 2022.

According to the White House statement, the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative – Water and Wastewater Sector Action (Water Sector Action) Plan is a collaborative effort between the federal government and the critical infrastructure community to facilitate the deployment of technologies and systems that provide cyber-related threat visibility, indicators, detections and warnings.

Developed collectively by the Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Water Sector Action Plan outlines surge actions that will take place over the next 100 days to improve the cybersecurity of the public and private water sector.

“Over the past year we’ve seen cyber threats affecting the critical infrastructure that underpins our communities and the services we all rely on, including safe and clean water,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “To reduce the likelihood and impact of damaging cybersecurity intrusions to the water sector, we’re teaming up with our EPA partners to provide guidance, technology, and direct support to the sector.”

The full Fact Sheet from the White House briefing room is available at www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/01/27/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-expands-public-private-cybersecurity-partnership-to-water-sector/ and key points are outlined below:

• Similar to electric and pipeline action plans, this plan will assist owners and operators with deploying technology that will monitor their systems and provide near real-time situational awareness and warnings. The plan will also allow for rapidly sharing relevant cybersecurity information with the government and other stakeholders, which will improve the sector’s ability to detect malicious activity.

• EPA and CISA will work with water utilities and invite them to participate in a pilot program for ICS monitoring and information sharing. This pilot will demonstrate the value of such technology to the sector. The WSCC, CISA, and EPA will also collaborate to promote cybersecurity monitoring to the entire sector.

• The plan will meet the particular requirements of this sector. This sector is made up of thousands of systems that range in size from the very small to ones that service major metropolitan cities that have little or no cybersecurity expertise and are unsure what steps they should take to address cyber risks. EPA and CISA will work with appropriate private sector partners to develop protocols for sharing information. The government will not select, endorse, or recommend any specific technology or provider.

• The plan will initially focus on the utilities that serve the largest populations and have the highest consequence systems; however, it will lay the foundation for supporting enhanced ICS cybersecurity across water systems of all sizes.

The Water Sector Action Plan is an extension of the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative which was developed to help the federal government and critical infrastructure entities partner to provide transparency, indicators, detections and warnings for cyber-threats.

Related Articles

• Three New Cybersecurity Bills Pass the House
• TSA Issues Second Cybersecurity Directive for Pipeline Owners and Operators
• White House Issues Executive Order on Cybersecurity

Related Links

• US Environmental Protection Agency – EPA Announces Action Plan to Accelerate Cyber-Resilience for the Water Sector
• White House – Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Expands Public-Private Cybersecurity Partnership to Water Sector
• White House – National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems

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