On Tuesday, water and wastewater professionals from 42 utilities, along with technology leaders and cybersecurity experts from across the state, gathered at Central Alabama Water’s Historic Cahaba Pump Station for two days of training ahead of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
“When the idea for this event was first mentioned early this year, we immediately agreed to participate and offered to host the training. Cybersecurity and service reliability are top priorities, and our team continuously monitors emerging threats and regularly coordinates with state and federal partners. This event helps Central Alabama Water and similar utilities further improve their preparedness and response,” Cameron Holly, chief technology officer at Central Alabama Water, said.
Ahead of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, this week’s exercise is helping them prevent and prepare for cybersecurity incidents and strengthen response and decision-making skills. They will address cyber resiliency, incident response and recovery planning.
“The cyberattacks targeting water systems across the country this summer were a clear reminder that cyber threats can have real-world consequences for the essential services our communities depend on every day. Strengthening cyber readiness across Alabama’s water utilities and other critical infrastructure is essential to protecting public services and ensuring organizations are prepared to respond and recover when an incident occurs,” Chad Smith, chief information security officer for the State of Alabama, said in a written statement. “Exercises like this bring the right partners together before a crisis, helping us build the relationships, plans and resilience needed to protect the people of Alabama.”
Dozens of leaders from across the state will work through real-world scenarios, understand the latest cybersecurity threat environment, and consider how they would respond if those attacks came to Alabama.
The training comes as utilities nationwide face a growing number of cyber threats to critical infrastructure.
The training is a partnership between the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University, the Alabama Rural Water Association, the State of Alabama Office of Information Technology and Central Alabama Water.
“Our most critical systems, including our water systems, are increasingly under attack from cyber adversaries and AI is only empowering them adding speed and scale to an already complex environment. Adversaries attack in campaigns, but our cyber defenders are fighting back in isolation. The more we’re sharing best practices and building connectivity, the safer we’re all going to be. That’s exactly what today’s exercise is about: making sure that, if there’s a cyber incident, we know exactly who to call, what to do and how to respond. The McCrary Institute is proud to join our partners hosting today’s exercise and helping organizations across Alabama prepare for and defend against cyber threats to our critical infrastructure,” Nick Sellers, associate director & chief operating officer at McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University, said in a written statement.
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