In addition to all the Boeing and ILA strike chaos, the “soft landing” fears, and the fact that Hurricane Milton is set to wipe Florida off the map - the last thing you want to hear about is that the company keeping your water flowing just got cyber attacked. Welcome to 2024, folks.

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, American Water Works, the biggest water utility in the U.S., recently got hacked, and yeah—it’s kind of a big deal. We’re talking about a company who legitimately services more than 14 million customers, including 18 military bases. That’s bigly big.

(Source: CNN) 

However, yesterday American Water came clean, admitting their customer service portal and billing system are currently toast. Ok, but what about the water, you ask? Well according to American Water, everything looks in order… for now anyways.

But even though the water is still light years better than Mexico’s cesspool of parasitic H2O, the main issue here is that this isn’t just some  random one-off hack. You see, water systems are basically the new playground for cybercriminals. And honestly, we should’ve seen this coming from a mile away - especially considering that the EPA has been waving the red flag on this for a while now, warning that all drinking water and wastewater systems are at risk.

(Source: CNBC) 

So if you thought your local water plant was too boring for hackers, think again. Water infrastructure is seriously behind the curve when it comes to cybersecurity. In fact, Adam Isles from the Chertoff Group even said water systems are the least mature in terms of security. Translation: CEO Susan Hardwicks “BossBabe1234” password ain’t going to cut it anymore.

(Source: Giphy) 

Plus, just to make things worse, an EPA alert recently revealed that 70% of inspected water systems don’t even meet basic cybersecurity standards. Meaning our great U.S. of A water systems are basically leaving the front door wide open and inviting hackers like DarkSide to make themselves at home. I mean, seriously, you can’t invite a serpent in the garden and be surprised (or mad) that it bites you. 

And that’s exactly what we are doing… apparently. On the other hand though, to their credit, American Water didn’t just sit there twiddling their thumbs. They shut down their billing system right away and even waived late fees for customers. They’ve also called in law enforcement and third-party cybersecurity experts to help clean up the colossal dumpster fire.

(Source: Giphy) 

But, but, but… weirdly enough, investors don’t seem to care. Despite the breach, American Water’s stock actually went up 0.29% (contributing to its 13.20% gains over the past 12 months). So either Wall Street’s gotten super chill about cyberattacks, or they just don’t give a rats a$$.

Which is quite amazing to me, especially since we’re talking about cyberattacks on things we actually can’t live without - water, electricity, gas - which are all vulnerable to the same types of attacks. And while this might feel like an inconvenience to everyday Americans. It may be best to saddle up… because it’s clear (especially after the Federal Reserve breach) that cyber threats aren’t going anywhere and neither is the digital transformation of our critical infrastructure. And God forbid, the only solution to our problems is Crowdsrike. Because… you know, we all know how that turned out. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In the meantime, update your passwords, check your drinking water, and if you’re an American Water Works investor, congrats, you just dodged a bullet my friend. As always, stay safe and stay frosty! Until next time…

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Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.