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Make Yourself Accountable for Your Utility’s Cybersecurity

WaterISAC Lead Analyst Chuck Egli has written an article for the California Water Environment Association (CWEA) encouraging employees do their part to prevent cyber incidents at their utilities on the occasion of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM). Chuck highlights some of the actions employees should take given this year’s NCSAM theme of “Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT.” These include measures for staying safe on social media, being prepared to spot and avoid phishing emails, and using WiFi in a secure manner.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Identifies “Cyber War” as Greatest Threat to the Country

Last Thursday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified that cyber threats are the most significant risks the nation faces. “We do face significant threats, I’d say No. 1 is not necessarily kinetic, it’s cyber, this is a cyber war,” Maguire said while testifying before the House Intelligence Community, his first appearance before the body. Maguire made these comments after being asked by Representative Will Hurd what he saw as the “greatest threats” to the country in his capacity as leader of the intelligence community.

MS-ISAC Releases Advisory on PHP Vulnerability

The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) – a WaterISAC partner – has published an advisory on a vulnerability in PHP, a programming language originally designed for use in web-based applications with HTML content. According to MS-ISAC, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code. Depending on the privileges associated with the application, an attacker could install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Failed exploitation could result in a denial-of-service condition.

Yokogawa Products (ICSA-19-274-02) – Products Used in the Energy Sector

CISA has published an advisory on an unquoted search path or element vulnerability in several Yokogawa products. Numerous products and versions of these products are affected. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a local attacker to execute malicious files. Yokogawa has provided countermeasures for the vulnerability in each of the affected products. CISA has also provided a series of measures for mitigating this vulnerability. Read the advisory at CISA.

Moxa EDR 810 Series (ICSA-19-274-03) – Products Used in the Water and Wastewater and Energy Sectors

CISA has published an advisory on improper input validation and improper access control vulnerabilities in Moxa EDR 810. Versions 5.1 and prior are affected. Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution or access to sensitive information. Moxa recommends users update to the latest firmware, v5.2, or later. CISA has also provided a series of measures for mitigating this vulnerability. Read the advisory at CISA.

Centralized Incident Response System Set Up in Advance Credited for Texas’ Recovery After Ransomware Attack

Despite the ransomware attacks in Texas representing the largest coordinated attack on government entities, the cooperation of federal, state, and local resources characterizes effective incident response – an effective and efficient response that would have never been possible if the system was not set up in advance. An article posted in HSToday, What Incident Responders Can Learn from the Lilu Ransomware Attacks on Texas Government Entities, covers valuable lessons learned from the attacks on 16 August 2019.

Disruptionware – A Cyber-Physical Threat to Operational Technology Environments

A new collaborative report between cybersecurity firm Forescout and cybersecurity think tank Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) explores what they are coining “disruptionware” – a category of cyber attack methods using unsophisticated, IT-based commodity malware that can be devastating to critical infrastructure firms. The most widespread form of disruptionware is ransomware.

Threat Update – Government and Utility Payment Portal Click2Gov Targeted Again

Researchers with dark web intelligence firm Gemini Advisory discovered a new campaign targeting Click2Gov. Click2Gov is a web-based, interactive self-service bill-pay software solution developed by Superion. It includes various modules that allow users to pay bills associated with local government services, including utilities.

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