The Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, has revealed a digital security breach at the Duffin Creek Water Pollution Control Plant that occurred on October 1.
In a statement, local officials said the breach impacted a “limited component” of the plant’s digital systems. The component involves no sensitive or private information, officials noted.
“The affected system was isolated and operations at Duffin Creek are currently running in auto or manual mode,” according to Durham’s statement issued on October 11, which added that the plant is fully operational.
Just days after the Durham incident, a higher profile cybersecurity incident occurred in Camden, New Jersey. American Water officials said the October 7 breach of its computer networks and systems forced the company to take its customer billing portal offline for about a week as a precautionary measure.
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“The investigation into the nature and scope of the incident by a dedicated team of professionals and law enforcement is ongoing,” American Water announced in a statement. “Investigations of this nature take time, and the company will share any additional information as, and when, appropriate.”
The company says there was no indication that its water and wastewater facilities were impacted by this incident. It manages more than 500 water and wastewater systems in about 1,700 communities in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
On September 18, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new Guidance on Improving Cybersecurity at Drinking Water and Wastewater Systems.
