Category: Water sector

Water sector

EPA Outlines Enforcement Measures to Help Prevent Cybersecurity Attacks and Protect the Nation’s Drinking Water

Agency News, Industry News, Water sector
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an enforcement alert outlining the urgent cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities to community drinking water systems and the steps these systems need to take to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act. The alert is part of a government-wide effort – led by the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – to reduce the nation’s infrastructure and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. EPA is issuing this alert because threats to, and attacks on, the nation’s water system have increased in frequency and severity to a point where additional action is critical.
“Protecting our nation’s drinking water is a cornerstone of EPA’s mission, and we are committed to using every tool, including our enforcement authorities, to ensure that our nation’s drinking water is protected from cyberattacks,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “EPA’s new enforcement alert is the latest step that the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to ensure communities understand the urgency and severity of cyberattacks and water systems are ready to address these serious threats to our nation’s public health.”
Recent EPA inspections have revealed that the majority of water systems inspected – over 70 percent – do not fully comply with requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act and that some of those systems have critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities, such as default passwords that have not been updated and single logins that can easily be compromised. As EPA and its state and federal security and intelligence partners continue to identify vulnerabilities, informed by successful cyberattacks to water systems across the United States, the agency remains committed to working with state and sector organization partners to successfully protect drinking water for communities.
Today's alert emphasizes the importance of EPA’s ongoing inspection and enforcement activities under Safe Drinking Water Act section 1433. The agency will increase the number of planned inspections and, where appropriate, will take civil and criminal enforcement actions, including in response to a situation that may present an imminent and substantial endangerment. Inspections will ensure that water systems are meeting their requirements to regularly assess resilience vulnerabilities, including cybersecurity, and to develop emergency response plans. In addition, EPA, CISA, and the FBI strongly recommend system operators take steps outlined in Top Actions for Securing Water Systems:
- Reduce exposure to public-facing internet.
- Conduct regular cybersecurity assessments.
- Change default passwords immediately.
- Conduct an inventory of OT/IT assets.
- Develop and exercise cybersecurity incident response and recovery plans.
- Backup OT/IT systems.
- Reduce exposure to vulnerabilities.
- Conduct cybersecurity awareness training.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also recently sent a letter to the nation’s governors on the urgency of the threats and the importance of collaboration across federal and state partners to develop comprehensive strategies to close gaps in cyber-resilience. Following the meeting, the National Security Council encouraged each state to prepare an action plan presenting the state’s strategy to mitigate the most significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the states’ water and wastewater systems by late June. EPA is also moving forward with the Water Sector Coordinating Council and Water Government Coordinating Council to establish a Task Force to identify additional near-term actions and strategies to reduce the risk of water and wastewater systems nationwide to cyberattacks.
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20.3 million of EU Funds for major flood protection project in Eisenach

Agency News, Industry News, Water sector
EU funds will be used to build flood protection along the section of the river Hörsel which goes from Langensalzaer to Karolinenstraße. The project in this challenging section addresses existing infrastructure, traffic management, and urban integration. In addition, the region is also planning a new Karolinen Bridge.
Currently, flood protection measures near the "Auf dem Gries" industrial area, including the cycling path connection to Stedtfeld, are nearing completion.
Support of €16 million in previous programming period
Thanks to substantial financial support from the EU, the flood protection efforts in Eisenach have been progressing systematically since 2015. Initial measures began in the district of Stedtfeld, with completion achieved by 2017. Next, the flood dike near the Stedtfeld wastewater treatment plant was replaced.
Construction started in 2020 along the Hörsel river. Additionally, from August 2021 to August 2022, flood protection measures were implemented in the Hörschel district.
In 2023, an EU-funded project completed flood protection measures near the Opel factory in Eisenach.
These ambitious projects show the EU's commitment to boosting the region's flood resilience. They will protect residents and critical infrastructure.
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National Security Memorandum on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience

Agency News, Cyber Security CII sector, Health & Social Care, Industry News, Power/Energy/Oil & Gas sector, Space Sector, Telecomms sector, Transport sector, Water sector
On April 30, 2024, the White House National Security Council (NSC) published the National Security Memorandum (NSM) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience. This memo builds on the important work that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and agencies across the federal government have been undertaking in partnership with America’s critical infrastructure communities for more than a decade. It also replaces Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, which was issued more than a decade ago to establish national policy on critical infrastructure security and resilience.
Why Now?
Image of infrastructure-related icons over glowing, streaks of blue and white  lights
The threat environment has significantly changed since PPD-21 was issued, shifting from counterterrorism to strategic competition, advances in technology like Artificial Intelligence, malicious cyber activity from nation-state actors, and the need for increased international coordination. This change in the threat landscape, along with increased federal investment in U.S. critical infrastructure, prompted the need to update PPD-21 and issue the new memo.
The NSM will help ensure U.S. critical infrastructure can provide the nation a strong and innovative economy, protect American families, and enhance our collective resilience to disasters before they happen, strengthening the nation for generations to come. This NSM specifically:
- Empowers the Department of Homeland Security to lead a whole-of-government effort to secure U.S. critical infrastructure, with CISA acting as the National Coordinator for the Security and Resilience of U.S. Critical Infrastructure. The Secretary of Homeland Security will be required to submit to the President a biennial National Risk Management Plan that summarizes U.S. government efforts to mitigate risk to the nation’s critical infrastructure.
- Reaffirms the designation of 16 critical infrastructure sectors and establishes a federal department or agency responsible for managing risk within each of these sectors.
- Elevates the importance of minimum security and resilience requirements within and across critical infrastructure sectors, consistent with the National Cyber Strategy, which recognizes the limits of a voluntary approach to risk management in the current threat environment.
PPD-21 pre-dates the establishment of CISA. CISA actively engaged in updating the framework established by PPD-21 to detail how the U.S. government secures and protects critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats.
CISA has already been working toward the goals of the NSM. We have already re-established the Federal Senior Leadership Council, which has made impressive strides through the FSLC’s robust collaboration model toward meeting our shared goals. When the FSLC was re-chartered, the group not only took on new authorities, but a heavy lift to inform how we define, modernize, and protect our critical infrastructure sectors.
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Most populous city in Philippines leads by example in inclusive DRR

Agency News, Industry News, Power/Energy/Oil & Gas sector, Water sector

Reducing disaster risk is seemingly never-ending in a country like the Philippines, which is exposed to a multitude of natural hazards.

Increasing urbanization also increases the risk of disasters in cities. New patterns of hazards, exposure and vulnerability are emerging. In this context, local authorities play a dual role. They are the first responders to disasters but are also instrumental in disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Persons with disabilities are often the most affected by natural hazards. Little progress has been made over the past decade in including them in DRR, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in 2023. Persons with disabilities often do not have access to information about disaster risk and are not included in decision-making related to DRR in communities, and few DRR plans consider the specific needs of persons with disabilities. This is the case in the Philippines as in most countries around the world.
A push in the right direction

The Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which concluded in 2023, emphasized that more needs to be done to engage the whole of society in DRR, especially the people and communities most at-risk, and that DRR at the local level is of great importance if we want to implement the Sendai Framework by 2030.

Despite the ambitious agenda to localize DRR and the progress that the Philippines has made in increasing capacities and resources and developing regulations at the smallest government units (barangay), its voluntary national report for the Sendai Framework Midterm Review highlights the need to further strengthen local DRR as a priority area.
A chain of learning

On 28 and 29 November 2023, UNDRR provided a training on urban resilience and disability inclusion in DRR in Quezon City, which is the most populous city in the Philippines and belongs to the Metro Manila region. Representatives from different city departments attended, alongside organizations of persons with disabilities.

A key element of the UNDRR-led initiative Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) is connecting cities and facilitating peer learning on resilience. A representative from Baguio City in the northern Philippines co-facilitated the training in Quezon City and shared experiences from the inclusion of persons with disabilities in DRR in a context that is familiar to Quezon. In 2022, officials from Baguio City were trained by the MCR2030 Resilience Hub Makati City, which is also part of Metro Manila. Quezon City is thus the third city in this learning chain.
An assessment, an action plan, a platform and lots of commitment

During the training in Quezon City, participants learned how to use the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities and its annex for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in DRR to evaluate disaster risk management practices.

Based on this assessment, they developed an initial action plan on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in institutional capacities, infrastructure resilience, and recovery, including “Building Back Better”.

The aim of the training was not only to increase knowledge about inclusive DRR and risk assessment capacities, but also to build a platform where local authorities and persons with disabilities come together to discuss DRR and where persons with disabilities are involved in risk assessments and decision-making on DRR.

For many representatives from organizations of persons with disabilities, this training was the first time they had been included in discussions about DRR. “We appreciate the opportunity to have a seat at the table and contribute to decisions that concern us”, one representative said.

Together, the city officials and the organizations of persons with disabilities committed to making DRR in Quezon City more inclusive and to transfer their knowledge and lessons learnt to other cities.
Support for local DRR from the national authorities

With the Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) and the Office for Civil Defense (OCD), national authorities were also represented at the workshop.

An official from the OCD highlighted that the inclusion of persons with disabilities is an issue that needs to be further considered in policies and frameworks, at the local and national levels. “The training helped to understand that local planning needs to be more inclusive and also take into account the needs and perspectives of persons with disabilities to build resilience”, he said.

The engagement of national authorities in MCR2030 builds capacity for urban resilience also at the national level, helping to ensure that cities are more resilient to future disasters and the most at-risk are protected.

[Source: Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Asia and Pacific]
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CIPRNA Announced Preliminary Conference Programme

Association News, Cyber Security CII sector, Power/Energy/Oil & Gas sector, Telecomms sector, Transport sector, Water sector

Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience North America, taking place on 12th-14th March 2024 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and co-hosted by IACIPP and Infragard Louisiana, has announced the Preliminary Conference Program for the 2024 conference and exhibition, and you can download the agenda at www.ciprna-expo.com/PSG.

The Guide provides you the outline program, excellent international expert speakers and schedule of events to help you plan your participation.

You can also register online today and save with the Early Bird delegate rates at www.ciprna-expo.com/register

Confirmed Speakers include:
– Dr David Mussington, Executive Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Brian Harrell, VP & Chief Security Officer, AVANGRID
- Michael Hill, Program Specialist, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
- Emilio Salabarria, Senior Program Manager for Cybersecurity, The Florida Center for Cybersecurity: Cyber Florida
- Dr. Srinivas Bhattiprolu, Global Head of Advanced Consulting Services, Nokia
- Ed Landgraf, Chairman, Coastal And Marine Operators
- Kimberly Heyne, ChemLock Program Manager, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Dan Frazen, CO-CEM, Agriculture Emergency Coordinator (All-Hazards), Colorado Department of Agriculture
- Dr. Joshua Bergerson, Principal Infrastructure Analyst, Argonne National Laboratory
- Chris Essid, Sector Branch Chief, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Budge Currier, Assistant Director Public Safety Communications, California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)
- Terrence Check, Senior Legal Council, CISA
- Rola Hariri, Defense Industrial Base Liaison, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Lester Millet, President, Infragard Louisiana & Safety Risk Agency Manager, Port of South Louisiana
- Michael Finch, Technology Services Director, Lane County Department of Technology Services
- Richard Tenney, Senior Advisor, Cyber, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Andrew A Bochman, Senior Grid Strategist-Defender, DOE / Idaho National Lab
- Jim Henderson, CEO, Insider Threat Defense Group

Full speaker list: www.ciprna-expo.com/speakers2024
Download Agenda: www.ciprna-expo.com/PSG
Schedule of Events/Agenda: www.ciprna-expo.com/schedule
List of Exhibitors: www.ciprna-expo.com/exhibition/exhibitors
Registration: www.ciprna-expo.com/register

Join the community in Lake Charles on 12th-14th March 2024 for some more great discussions on securing America's critical infrastructure and assets.

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EPA Updates Power Resilience Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities

Industry News, Water sector

EPA has published an updated version of the Power Resilience Guide, which provides water and wastewater utilities with information and strategies to help strengthen relationships with their electric providers and increase their resilience to power outages.

The guide has been updated to include new information in its “Energy Efficiency,” “Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy Resources,” and “Funding” sections. The document is divided into eight areas in which water sector utilities can increase power resilience, which include communication, power assessments, emergency generators, fuel, energy efficiency, renewable energy and microgrids, black sky planning, and funding. Additionally, the updated guide includes new case studies that demonstrate creative power resilience strategies (e.g., implementation of microgrids at utilities) and planning considerations for both short (e.g., 2-3 days) and long (e.g., several weeks) duration power outages.

Access the updated guide below or read more about power resilience at EPA.

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Your latest issue of Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience News has arrived

Agency News, Association News, Cyber Security CII sector, Health & Social Care, Industry News, Power/Energy/Oil & Gas sector, Space Sector, Telecomms sector, Transport sector, University/Research/Academia sector, Water sector

Please find here your downloadable copy of the Winter 2022-23 issue of Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience News for the latest views and news at www.cip-association.org/CIPRNews.

- A Standard to help protect Critical Infrastructure
- Government and Industry Cooperation: More Important Than Ever for Cybersecurity Awareness
- Help2Protect: an eLearning program to counter Insider Threats
- Testing Environments Help S&T and CISA Secure Transportation Infrastructure
- Can responsible AI guidelines keep up with the technology?
- Infrastructure Resilience Planning Framework (IRPF)
- An Interview with Port of New Orleans
- Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience North America Preview
- Industry and Agency Reports and News

Download your Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience News at www.cip-association.org/CIPRNews

Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience News is the official magazine of the International Association of Critical Infrastructure Protection Professionals (IACIPP), a non-profit organisation that provides a platform for sharing good practices, innovation and insights from Industry leaders and operators alongside academia and government and law enforcement agencies.

#CriticalInfrastructureProtection #CriticalInfrastructure #cybersecurity #help2protect #cisa #ciprna #resilience #cooperation

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Risk information is everybody's business. Here is why it is a whole-of-society effort

Agency News, Cyber Security CII sector, Industry News, Water sector

More risk data is produced every day. However, new findings often don't make it out of the scientific silos to the broader public. In the face of false information, it is essential to find new ways of making risk information accessible to everyone.

  • Risk information should provide scientifically sound information, tailored to the everyday concerns of society.
  • Science, private sector, governments, and media need to understand each other’s interests and qualities.
  • A whole-of-society approach calls for all parties to communicate clearly and listen carefully.

Different stakeholders may have different priorities and angles around risk . For example, public leaders may prefer a responsive angle on manifested disasters for strategic reasons, while private developers may not want to stress risks to prevent them from raising a lot of attention.

Establishing collaboration requires dialogues between institutions. This is easily hindered by unclear distribution of responsibilities or language and jargon barriers.

5 ways to enable an all-of-society approach

To create a holistic conversation around risk, stakeholders need to develop strategies for closer collaboration. Here are five enablers that support these dialogues and facilitate effective communication:

1. Building trust

People are willing to collaborate on risk communication when strong relationships are in place. Long-standing partnerships between universities and municipalities, for example, benefit from knowing each other's objectives and differences to build trust and understand each other’s priorities.

2. Clear communication

Clear communication is key when bringing together the private sector, governments, and civil society. Only when all parties understand the different risk scenarios and risk reduction options, can they develop solutions that serve the community. "Knowledge brokers", knowledgeable in various fields, can play an important role in "translating" across sectors and aligning conversations.

3. Financing innovative collaborations

Informative, unbiased risk communication requires independent funding for thorough research and reviewing. Finance for collaboration on risk communication is increasingly important, at a time when independent media are financially constrained by the economic downturn.

4. Understanding each other's needs

Effective collaboration with the media and creative sectors is enabled if all parties understand each other’s needs. For instance, scientists who approach media with interesting stories, written in simple language, show an understanding of media timeframes and requirements. RSuch stories can give insight into how DRR issues affect audiences' everyday lives.

5. Creating incentives

Collaborations can flourish if they clearly benefit all practitioners and rule out reasons for mistrust. Hence, underlining the proactive position of risk communication and the increase in credibility are among the most important steps.

Political figures as well as scientists benefit from early on communication, rewarding them with greater credibility and confidence.

Incentives targeting the private sector may aim at openly informing the greater public about potential risks and in return tailoring their products to meet the consumers' needs.

Within the media and creative sectors, creative and engaging programming that helps audiences feel informed and empowered to act can attract other stakeholders.

Risk communication that serves society

Risk communication should support informed decision-making. Available data needs to be translated into information and actionable knowledge.

Therefore, practitioners of diverse backgrounds need to find new ways of collaboration that highlight shared perspectives, bring together visions, and foster creativity.

Disaster risk is ultimately linked to people's everyday lives and therefore can be explored through a wide range of programming and formats. This is where all stakeholders come together; in providing scientifically sound information, tailored to the everyday concerns of society.

[Source: UNDRR]
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FEMA Obligates Over $10M Through Swift Current Initiative

Agency News, Industry News, Power/Energy/Oil & Gas sector, Water sector

FEMA has obligated $10.28 million in flood resilience projects through the Flood Mitigation Assistance Swift Current initiative. This is the first FEMA initiative funded through President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The initiative allocates a total of $60 million to Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—all states affected by Hurricane Ida—to equitably expedite mitigation grants to disaster survivors with repetitively flooded homes. The application period opened April 1, and by Aug. 1, the funding requested exceeded the amount made available through the Swift Current Initiative by over $9 million. FEMA continues to review all other subapplications submitted to the Flood Mitigation Assistance Swift Current initiative and will announce further selections in the upcoming months.

Selections include acquiring 31 flood-prone properties in New Jersey and converting land to open space while two properties in Louisiana will be reconstructed to better withstand flooding. More information about these and other selections is available on FEMA.gov.

Swift Current seeks to substantially speed up the award of Flood Mitigation Assistance funding after a flooding event and reduce the complexity of the application process. Its goal is to obligate flood mitigation dollars for repetitively and substantially flood damaged properties insured through the National Flood Insurance Program as quickly and equitably as possible after a disaster event.

The program recognizes the growing flood hazards associated with climate change, and of the need for flood hazard risk mitigation activities that promote climate adaptation, equity and resilience to flooding. These hazards are expected to increase in frequency and intensity.

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Chemical security experts call for multisector cooperation against terrorism

Agency News, Industry News, Power/Energy/Oil & Gas sector, Transport sector, Water sector

The devastating impact of chemical weapons and explosives used in acts of terrorism continues to affect civilian populations and is well known for its destructive and long-term harm.

Last year over 1,000 improvised explosive device (IED) attacks were conducted by non-state actors, injuring over 7,150 people in more than 40 countries. Many attacks come from chemicals that criminals acquired through weak points in the supply chain – from manufacturing to storage and retail– and made into weapons.

To counter this threat, some 220 chemical security practitioners from more than 70 countries met at INTERPOL’s 3rd Global Congress on Chemical Security and Emerging Threats to find ways of reducing vulnerabilities by enhancing multisector cooperation and collaboration.

With a focus on acquisition, transportation, physical and cyber security of chemical materials, the meeting highlighted a range of security issues, such as detecting cross-border movements of regulated material and implementing regulatory frameworks.

Terrorists’ misuse of e-commerce and new technologies

The Global Congress also explored ways to counter emerging threats including terrorists’ misuse of e-commerce and new technologies to acquire toxic and precursor chemicals.

Due to the substantial growth and access to the Internet in recent years, so too we have seen an increase in digital content produced and shared through platforms such as instant messaging, social networking, blogs and online portals. The misuse of technologies can be seen as a result of this rapid growth in content, and with it a rise in suspicious activities.

Law enforcement agencies provided examples of investigative techniques that could be used to identify and prosecute the illicit purchase or sale of chemicals on the Dark Net. These lessons provided delegates with solutions to address the use of sophisticated technologies for nefarious purposes.

"The concerted effort of global law enforcement, along with our partners, is key to combatting the use of explosive precursor chemicals and chemical weapons,” Mr Hinds added.

Dual-use and precursor chemicals have a wide legitimate function in the production of consumer goods such as pharmaceuticals, cleaning supplies and fertilizers. This raises significant challenges to prevent and monitor, and remains one of the inherent threats to chemical security worldwide.

INTERPOL awareness video - ‘The Watchmaker’

In this context, an INTERPOL-produced awareness video was premiered at the meeting to engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders in understanding the importance of individuals and companies to secure dangerous toxic chemicals, including equipment.

Entitled ‘The Watchmaker’, the video highlights the need for multisector cooperation to combat these threats and will be used in a series of INTERPOL capacity building workshops and other activities related to counter-terrorism and prevention.

“Multisector collaboration is essential for us to tackle the threats we face from criminals who gain access to dangerous chemicals with malevolent intentions. Morocco is committed to strengthening the engagement of these issues as part of our proactive approach to combating terrorism,” said Mr. Mohammed Dkhissi, Head of National Central Bureau, Rabat.

Other measures proposed by the Global Congress Network include:

- Advocating chemical security recommendations such as increased retail reporting on suspicious activity;
- Expanding the INTERPOL-hosted Global Knowledge Hub, which allows members to engage in interactive discussions and access good practice guidance;
- Strengthening the Global Congress Network through greater diversity of expertise and activities across regions and sectors;
- Promoting decision-making tools such as a customer database, which can flag areas of security concern.

Since its inception in 2018, the Global Congress has been jointly led by INTERPOL, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and implemented in cooperation with the G7 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

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