The Indiana Office of Technology (IOT), through a partnership with Purdue University and Indiana University (IU), will now provide no-cost cybersecurity assessments for water and wastewater treatment facilities in the state.
IOT and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) said the expansion of the CyberTrack partnership will allow Purdue’s cyberTAP and IU’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR) staff and students to analyze the cybersecurity posture of local water and wastewater treatment facilities and provide a blueprint on how they can further secure their environments.
Previously, the assessment assistance was limited to local governments only.
“Indiana governments and our water providers are constantly under cyberattacks and anything we can do to better our responses is needed,” said Indiana Chief Information Officer Tracy Barnes. “Our partnership over the past two years with Purdue University and Indiana University has been incredibly beneficial to the nearly 100 local governments that have taken part in the cybersecurity assessments. Water facilities are frequently being targeted, and it’s important that we provide them with clear direction on how to improve their cybersecurity.”
The announcement comes as Federal regulators continue to stress the cybersecurity risks faced by public water and wastewater systems, as well as other critical infrastructure sectors. IOT stressed that strong cybersecurity practices are critical to helping prevent, detect, respond, and recover from cyber incidents. The department further noted that many water and wastewater systems serving larger customer bases have dedicated staff and practices around cybersecurity, smaller utilities may not have as many resources to deal with cyberattacks.
“We strongly encourage Indiana drinking water and wastewater utilities to take advantage of this opportunity. Safeguarding the integrity of public utility infrastructure is vital to ensuring safe, clean water for Hoosiers,” said IDEM Commissioner Brian Rockensuess. “IDEM is excited about this partnership, which will help water systems identify vulnerabilities and implement practices to deter and respond to potential threats.”
