Cyberattacks on U.S. water systems raise concerns about security

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**Meghan McCarty Carino** (0:31)
Cyber attacks on US water systems haven't caused big disruptions. At least this time. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Meghan McCarty Carino.
At least a dozen states have reported malicious hacking activity targeting their water systems, starting with Minnesota in late July. So far, water has remained safe to drink, but the incidents raise concerns about how vulnerable our critical infrastructure systems are to future attacks. Here to break it down is Nikita Shah. She's a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

**Nikita Shah** (1:19)
The attackers were able to target weak cyber defenses in these systems to get in. What that means is really taking advantage of things like default passwords, having systems that lack multi-factor authentication, for example. That's slightly dangerous in this case because these operational technology systems were connected to the Internet, and that's what makes it easier for the attackers to get in and to then maneuver once they're into these systems and tinker around with the controls. There is an Iranian cyber actor that's claimed responsibility for the attacks known as the cyber avengers.
But I think those actors tend to have a tendency to exaggerate their claims. I think it's sensible to wait until the US government has officially determined who's responsible.

**Meghan McCarty Carino** (2:01)
As you noted, Iran is definitely top of mind right now. But are there other state or non-state actors that could pose a potential threat like this?

**Nikita Shah** (2:10)
Absolutely. Some of the kind of top four that we refer to in cyber security is Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. They're all incredibly sophisticated actors. But then you also have cyber criminals. So these are financially motivated groups, sometimes individuals, their sophistication really varies, but what they're interested in is financial motivation. The other thing I'd add in is the context they're in right now, which is geopolitical conflict. And that's really important because that brings in a third category of actors. And that's what we refer to in cyberspace as hacktivists. So these tend to be politically motivated actors who want to show some kind of patriotic support for one side or the other in a conflict. The other thing I'd say about US infrastructure is, in this case, we're seeing the water sector attacked.
But really, it's US infrastructure across the board. That ranges from the public sector, so you think government systems, federal systems and public networks, right through to the energy sector, through to hospitals that are increasingly being targeted by cybercriminals, the education sector, universities, even things like space and satellites. So it's really across that full range of US infrastructure that the cyber threat is growing from different actors.

**Meghan McCarty Carino** (3:22)
We'll be right back.

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