← Articles
CISA, FBI and EPA Release Incident Response Guide for Water and Wastewater Systems Sector
Government
Developed in collaboration with over 25 WWS Sector industry, nonprofit, and state/local government partners, this resource covers the four stages of the incident response lifecycle:
- Preparation: WWS Sector organizations should have an incident response plan in place, implement available services and resources to raise their cyber baseline, and engage with the WWS Sector cyber community.
- Detection and analysis: Accurate and timely reporting and rapid collective analysis are essential to understand the full scope and impact of a cyber incident. The guidance provides information on validating an incident, reporting levels, and available technical analysis and support.
- Containment, eradication, and recovery: While WWS Sector utilities are conducting their incident response plan, federal partners are focusing on coordinated messaging and information sharing, and remediation and mitigation assistance.
- Post-incident activities. Evidence retention, using collected incident data, and lessons learned are the overarching elements for a proper analysis of both the incident and how responders handled it.
All WWS utilities are encouraged to use this incident response guide to augment their incident response planning and collaboration with federal partners and the WWS before, during, and following a cyber incident. Familiarity with this guide will better prepare WWS utilities to respond to—and recover from—a cyber incident.
Partners that contributed to this guide include:
- AlexRenew
- American Water
- Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA)
- Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI)
- City of Dover
- Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI)
- Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis
- District of Columbia Water (DC Water)
- Dragos
- East Bay Municipal Utility District
- EMA Inc.
- Google/Mandiant
- International Society of Automation (ISA)
- Maine DHHS CDC Drinking Water Program
- Microsoft
- New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC)
- Platte Canyon Water & Sanitation DistrictSan Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
- Schneider Electric
- Tenable
- Tetra Tech
- Trinity River Authority of Texas
- Water Environment Federation
- Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC)
- West Yost Inc.
- Xylem
- Individuals from American Water Works Association (AWWA)