Special Edition - Water System Security
On Friday, February 4th, a municipal water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida was electronically attacked (“hacked”) via its SCADA system. SCADA is an acronym for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. SCADA is a computer system for gathering and analyzing real time data. SCADA is used in industries such as telecommunications, water/wastewater, energy, oil and gas refining, and transportation. Based on the collected data, operators can remotely energize valves, pumps, and other controls to keep facilities in compliance with permits. In this instance, the hacker breached the water treatment plant’s SCADA and was controlling the computer system's mouse — opening various functions on the screen including changing the sodium hydroxide (commonly referred to as Caustic Soda). Fortunately, a water facility employee was monitoring the system and foiled the attempt before any system or water quality damage occurred. The FBI is assisting local police in looking for this individual/group and plan to charge them with a felony.
Many of you may be wondering if your facility(s) are susceptible to this kind of security risk. The majority of facilities Inframark operates DO NOT utilize SCADA technology. SCADA is typically utilized in large facilities where it is more cost effective to have an operator “control” the facility from a keyboard than to operate manually. Most MUDs and small cities are unable to arrive at a sufficient return on investment to invest in SCADA. Many Inframark clients have FleetZOOM units installed. The FleetZOOM is a SAAS based system utilizing unique user ID and password protection that can be accessed via any web browser from any device. It monitors and alerts Inframark personnel to any abnormalities or irregularities at a facility and communicates with Inframark personnel via a cellular connection. Even if someone were to “hack” into our FleetZOOM system, all they would be able to do is observe the levels that we monitor. None of the FleetZOOM devices we utilize are connected to be able to energize valves and/or other controls that would affect your treatment process.
We do have a few districts that have installed SCADA. The INFRAMARK dedicated IT department in collaboration with SCADA consultants provide high-level security to protect our client SCADA systems. Of course, in the ever-evolving world of IT, no system is bullet proof and nefarious individuals and organizations are constantly scheming to figure out a way to bypass security measures. If you would like to know more about the security Inframark is utilizing for your facilities, or the FleetZOOM monitoring system, please reach out to your Account Manager for a confidential briefing of our security plan. We do not make it available publicly due to security concerns but are happy to share with your Board in an executive session at a regularly scheduled board meeting.
On behalf of the Texas MUD Leadership Team
Todd A. Burrer
Vice President, Texas MUD's
713-805-9232
Todd.Burrer@inframark.com