Veolia describes itself as the world’s largest private player in the water sector, providing water and wastewater services to tens of millions of people. In a notice posted on its website, Veolia North America revealed that its Municipal Water division was hit by ransomware last week. In response to the incident, the company took down the targeted backend systems and servers, which disrupted online bill payment systems.
A slew of recent attacks makes it clear that critical infrastructure like drinking water and wastewater utilities are under increasing threats from cybercriminals and bad actors. And recent revelations from authorities are demonstrating that the problem may be even worse than previously known.
The risk to critical infrastructure is a long festering concern in the cybersecurity industry. Researchers, corporate security officers and government experts feared that energy producers, utilities and water systems lacked the manpower and investment in security.
The risk increased with the exposure of industrial control systems to the open internet and connected to IT systems through automation.
