In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration proposed creating stronger cybersecurity guidelines to better safeguard the nation’s water supply from hackers. The steps were modest, but necessary, officials said at the time: Many municipalities lacked even basic protections, and the computers that monitor and adjust water quality, including chemical-treatment levels, were easy-to-find targets for a would-be intruder. The E.P.A. rescinded the order, however, after Republican-led states and industry groups sued to block its enforcement. … The episode is just one of several in recent years in which efforts to bolster the cyberdefenses of America’s water systems were blocked despite repeated attacks that highlighted vulnerabilities. 

Other water system cybersecurity news:

• Vox: Hackers just broke into America’s tap water. How scared should you be?
• Cyberscoop: The water sector just got its wake-up call. Again.
• Bloomberg: Iran-linked cyberattacks on US water utilities continue
• The Free Press: America is not prepared for a war on our water
• The Conversation: Blog: How hackers attack municipal water systems – and why the utilities are so vulnerable