Water utility suffers cyber incident

A water utility reported a cyber incident when remote users experienced difficulties logging into the control systems, according to an ICS-CERT report.

By Gregory Hale; Source: ISS Source

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A water utility reported a cyber incident when remote users experienced difficulties logging into the control systems, according to an ICS-CERT report.

Offsite and onsite analyses revealed the cause of the incident was general crimeware and was not a targeted attack, ICS-CERT said. The utility’s control systems did not suffer any repercussions as a result of the incident. ICS-CERT did not name the utility.

As a result of the event, ICS-CERT coordinated with the FBI, state, and local law enforcement during and after the incident.

While onsite, ICS-CERT reviewed network topologies and control systems architecture and evaluated the water utility’s current security and detection measures.

They also provided mitigations and made recommendations for strengthening the existing cyber security and incident detection mechanisms. The water utility has since sanitized its systems and implemented stronger and tighter security practices.

Some of the general lessons learned include:

• Secure remote access with VPNs or two-factor authentication. For more information about configuring and managing remote access, review Configuring and Managing Remote Access for industrial Control Systems.
• Prepare for incidents with a formalized incident response plan. Enable logging and leverage the static nature of a control system to look for anomalies. Retain logs for a sufficient amount of time.
• Understand how to preserve forensic data for analysis and reporting when an incident occurs. Capture forensic images of the system memory and hard drive prior to powering down the system. Also, avoid running antivirus software “after the fact” as the AV scan changes critical file dates and impedes discovery and analysis of suspected malicious files and timelines.

Understand, even with the best cyber defense mechanisms in place, incidents will likely occur.