Money Will Be Used to Protect Water Infrastructure
By Hank Russell
More than 20 Long Island municipalities and entities received a combined $3,466,305 to implement and assess the safety of its cybersecurity systems that are used to protect the water infrastructure. The money comes from the Strengthening Essential Cybersecurity for Utilities and Resiliency Enhancements (SECURE) grant program, which provided $9 million to 153 local government projects.
“New York is taking action to protect our critical water infrastructure from cyberattacks that could disrupt services and threaten public health and safety,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “As we have seen with recent malicious cyberattacks on water systems across multiple states, these threats are real and escalating. These investments give local governments the tools they need to strengthen their defenses, safeguard essential services, and keep delivering safe, reliable water to New Yorkers.”
The following Long Island recipients are as follows:
- The Village of Bayville, which received $400,000 for the assessment and implementation of its water department’s cybersecurity infrastructure.
- The Bethpage Water District, which received $111,900 for its SECURE cybersecurity assessment and implementation projects.
- The Franklin Square Water District, which got $166,100 to assess its cybersecurity system.
- The City of Glen Cove, which was awarded a $40,000 grant to assess the cybersecurity system for its drinking water.
- The Great Neck Water Pollution Control District, which was the recipient of a $16,500 grant for its cybersecurity incident response plan.
- The Greenlawn Water District, which got $107,300 to assess its cybersecurity system.
- The Town of Hempstead, which was awarded $50,000 for assessment of its cybersecurity systems for its Department of Water.
- The Hicksville Water District, which got $242,200 for the assessment and implementation of its cybersecurity system.
- The Town of Huntington, which was awarded a $42,500 grant for the Dix Hills Water District to assess its cybersecurity system.
- The Locust Valley Water District, which received $275,000 to assess and implement its cybersecurity system.
- The Massapequa Water District, which got $58,570 for its assessment and implementation of its cybersecurity systems.
- The Oyster Bay Sewer District, which was the recipient of a $394,700 grant to assess and implement its cybersecurity system and assess its treatment and wastewater conveyance facilities.
- The Plainview Water District, which got $255,000 for cybersecurity assessment and implementation.
- The Town of Riverhead, which was awarded $278,285 to assess and implement the sewer district’s information technology (IT) infrastructure.
- The Roslyn Water District, which was the recipient of a $50,000 grant for cybersecurity assessment.
- The South Farmingdale Water District, which received $127,300 to assess its cybersecurity system.
- The South Huntington Water District, which got $445,200 for cybersecurity assessment and implementation.
- Suffolk County, which was the recipient of a $60,000 grant for SECURE assessment of its wastewater treatment plant.
- The Suffolk County Water Authority, which got $50,000 for cybersecurity assessment.
- The West Hempstead Water District, which was the recipient of $348,700 in grants to assess and implement its cybersecurity system.
- The Westbury Water District, which received $295,750 for SECURE grant assessment and implementation.
These awards come after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced late last month that the agency received reports from seven states that their wastewater systems’ cybersecurity systems have been attacked by malicious cyber actors.
“The FBI and EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] are engaging with victim organizations and are providing the following recommendations for critical infrastructure asset owners and operators,” the FBI said in a statement.