Does Asia have the political will to tackle cybersecurity in water?

摘要

It was only in February when I warned of the need for Asia's water operators to take cybersecurity more seriously. And three months later, in early May, we saw the news that a major US fuel pipeline was taken offline by a cyber-crimi-nal gang through a ransomware attack that successfully secured a payout after severely curtailing almost half the country's East Coast supply of diesel, petrol and jet fuel. Hacks are not new, and ransomware is increasingly becoming commonplace (the latest one to make international news this month in the US involved the world's largest meat processor). Indeed, it is becoming such a regular occurrence that 'Ransomware-as-a Service' (respectably known today as RaaS, much like software-as-a-service is known as SaaS) is becoming a professional offering that one can pay for online, albeit typically through bitcoins and other cryptocur-rencies. If major infrastructure facilities in the US can be paralysed, what could happen to water facilities in Asia, where water systems are often less advanced and less secure?