Artificial intelligence is driving more frequent and sophisticated cyberattacks on water infrastructure and security systems, posing a particular threat in rural and cash-strapped communities, experts told a Senate panel Wednesday.
Members of the Environment and Public Works Committee appeared eager to help the water sector track, prevent and deter attacks, but there wasn’t a clear consensus on how.
Republicans cautioned against top-down mandates, with Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) calling for improving data collection on the frequency and severity of cyber incidents.
“At every level, we need to make sure the protections we afford the larger [water] systems are the same protections that we can provide for the smaller systems,” Capito said. “I would identify also a gap. I think we need better data on how many attacks there are.”
