Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2023

FOCUS
One such effort is the Keppel
Marina East Desalination Plant,
which is capable of producing
30 million gallons of clean water
every day, built with a government
contract estimated at up to
S$500m. Another is Singapore’s
wastewater recycling campaign,
NEWater, from which the country
already derives 40% of its water
from five water plants currently in
operation, and hopes are that it will
rise to 55% by 2060.
With all of this increased demand
for clean, available water, any
potential disruption in water
resources calls for more resilient
infrastructure protection.
Unfortunately, many water and
wastewater utilities, particularly
small systems, lack the resources
to support a robust cybersecurity
programme. Cyber-physical
threats to water infrastructure can
lead to a range of negative effects,
including changes to water quality
and available supply levels.
USE OF CYBERSECURITY
CONTROLS IN WATER AND
WASTEWATER ON THE RISE
The Cyber Security Agency of
Singapore (CSA) acknowledges
that while Singapore’s water
industrial control systems (ICS)
are segregated from the Internet,
there are other attack vectors to
be considered, including from
insiders, employees and third-party
service providers. The website
stated that readiness and resilience
— in all aspects — must remain
the keystone. Consequently, the
water sector was included as a
critical information infrastructure
(CII) to be protected in Singapore’s
Cybersecurity Bill passed in 2018.
SECURING CONNECTED
CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS
It is important to invest in
technologies that can accurately
identify connected assets and
vulnerabilities, and also provide
remediation strategies. A secure
remote access solution (SRA)
can help facilities connect with
confidence and provide role- and
policy-based access controls,
alerting, and the ability to audit,
investigate, and terminate malicious
activity. ICS is relatively safe
from cyber-attacks as they are
segregated from the Internet, and
are not accessible remotely over
public networks. Unfortunately,
the other attack vectors such as
insiders and third-party service
providers may inadvertently cause
a contamination of the water during
system maintenance.
Besides reducing risk and better
managing cybersecurity threats,
a solution for the extended
IoT (XIoT) can help align and
prioritise cybersecurity activities
for converged enterprises.
By identifying and prioritising
opportunities for continuous
and repeatable improvement,
organisations can apply risk
management principles and best
practices to improve security
and resilience regardless of size,
degree of cybersecurity risk, or
cybersecurity sophistication.
Cybersecurity risk affects the
bottom line. It can drive up costs,
affect revenue, and harm the ability
to innovate and get and retain
customers. Cyber-physical security
solutions enable management
to focus on business drivers to
guide cybersecurity activities
and consider risk management
processes. These tools can help
organisations determine necessary
actions for critical service delivery
and prioritise ROI.
Other attack vectors such as insiders
and third-party service providers may
inadvertently cause a contamination of the
water during system maintenance
Vijay Vaidyanathan
Claroty’s regional vice-president, solutions engineering, Asia-Pacific and Japan
WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2023 41