SoftwareSecurityForget your money and identities, hackers are now after your water, according to the White HouseWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

SoftwareSecurityForget your money and identities, hackers are now after your water, according to the White HouseWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images)

A stylised photograph of a person acting as a hacker, break into servers and infecting them with a virus, as show by computer monitors displaying green text and codes

There hardly goes a day withoutnews of cyberattackstaking place at banks, tech companies, or government agencies. From targeting the individual to the masses, hackers are getting ever more creative in what they strike at, in order to compromise systems and gain sensitive information. Well, the US White House and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are now warning that public water and sewage systems are the latest points of attack and state administrations are being urged to improve the security of such plants.

The plea for ‘water resilience’ from the White House and EPA (viaThe Verge) came in the form of anopen letter to US state governorsand acall to attend a virtual meetingon how best to combat attacks from state-sponsored groups. In the letter, it’s claimed that ‘drinking water and wastewater systems are an attractive target for cyberattacks because they are a lifeline critical infrastructure sector but often lack the resources and technical capacity to adopt rigorous cybersecurity practices.’

However, some of the practices that should, but haven’t, been followed are arguably not all that rigorous. This small section of the latter highlights what I mean: “In many cases, even basic cybersecurity precautions—such as resetting default passwords or updating software to address known vulnerabilities—are not in place and can mean the difference between business as usual and a disruptive cyberattack.”

Thinking of upgrading?(Image credit: Microsoft)Windows 11 review: What we think of the latest OS.How to install Windows 11: Our guide to a secure install.Windows 11 TPM requirement: Strict OS security.

Thinking of upgrading?

(Image credit: Microsoft)Windows 11 review: What we think of the latest OS.How to install Windows 11: Our guide to a secure install.Windows 11 TPM requirement: Strict OS security.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

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Windows 11 review: What we think of the latest OS.How to install Windows 11: Our guide to a secure install.Windows 11 TPM requirement: Strict OS security.

Hence why the White House and EPA talk about being rigorous with practices, such as routinely changing passwords and updating firmware to prevent cyberattacks from standing any chance of succeeding.

Lock the doorsbeforethe horse bolts, folks. You know it makes sense.

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