This browser does not support the Video element.
Feds warn over water cyberattack
What would happen if hackers got into our country's water systems. The White House hopes we never have to find out. Last month, federal officials sent a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp and other governors across the country. They implored them to assess vulnerabilities in local water departments and fix them, or else risk a debilitating hack that could impact crops, drinking water, even health systems.
ATLANTA - What would happen if hackers got into our country's water systems?
The White House hopes we never have to find out.
In March, federal officials sent a letter to governors across the country, imploring them to assess vulnerabilities in local water and waste departments and fix them, or else risk a debilitating hack that could impact crops, drinking water-- even health systems.
FOX5 asked several Georgia localities what they plan to do to keep you safe. Atlanta leaders say since last year, it has been working on several projects to address and mitigate potential risks. Cobb County leaders say its current water system exceeds industry guidelines, but with a warning from the White House about planned threats from China and Iran, it's clear the federal government wants us all to think of the unthinkable and prepare for it.
"If you want to spread terror and scare people in a big way, you attack vulnerable systems that impact a lot of people," Attorney Bruce Hagen said.
Cyber analysts say to consider Flint, Michigan as a good example of how detrimental a compromised water system would be.
"An entire region of the state had contaminated drinking water," cyber analyst, Pete Tran said. "That was on the system itself...Imagine that at a large scale. That's a huge impact across the board."
A letter from the White House to every U.S. governor reads: "Disabling cyberattacks are striking water and wastewater systems throughout the United States..." It specifically mentions threats from Iran and China.
Tran says now's the time for local governments to re-evaluate industrial and modern water systems.
"Electricity, water, those systems are over 50 years old. They're called industrial control systems, built before the internet," Tran said. "Over time upgraded, but still a patchwork of systems built on others."
On one hand, a manual water system would mean less hacker risks, on the other, it means inefficiencies for entire communities. Tran says each one's system is different, hence the mass messaging from the Biden Administration to get a sense of what the country is working with.
There's a heightened need for state, county and city leaders all across the U.S. to take this warning seriously.
"What is the city's legal obligations?" Hagen said. "With a warning from potential intercepted intelligence, are they required to do more-- arguably yes, but this is less about litigation and more about what are you going to do to protect citizens of city of Atlanta that rely upon you to do these things."
Tangible steps the average citizen can take are the typical directives: Update the password for your water accounts. Cyber analysts say you shouldn't use the same password for every account, and you should change them often.