(TheConservativeTimes.org) – United States Security officials are worried after a small town in Pennsylvania experienced hacking of their water authority.
The Aliquippa Water Authority in Pennsylvania was among the least expected targets of a cybersecurity breach. Something like this has never happened in their years of being open, but it’s something that has raised some concern after recent events. U.S. security officials are scrambling to find a potential way to prevent this from happening again.
Authorities say that Iranian-backed hackers have targeted and hacked a piece of equipment in Pennsylvania. They say it was attacked specifically because it was Israeli-made.
The Iranian hackers shut down a remote-controlled device that monitors and regulates water pressure in a pumping station. They were able to quickly switch to a manual operation so customers were not affected. It’s important to note that not every company has the ability to run a manual operation to save it in the case that something like this occurs.
This raises concern as people wonder what else they may be able to hack into, such as water supply units or filtering systems. Cybersecurity isn’t exactly the most concerning thing to many authorities in the Pennsylvania area as they are more focused on matters like clean drinking water and aged pipes.
U.S. officials are searching for an answer but utility companies claim that cybersecurity is too expensive with everything else they do and it’s not a common thing for them to invest in.
Robert Lee, CEO of Draco’s, a company that specializes in cybersecurity for industrial companies, said that not having cybersecurity as a utility company is very common.
“That story is tens of thousands of utilities across the country,” he said.
The problem of cybersecurity at locations such as utility plants and utility companies is expected to be addressed as Congress is backing bills that deal with this issue.
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