Securing Critical Infrastructure: Certificate-Based Identity for Water and Utility Systems
In July and August 2026, a coordinated cyberattack struck water systems across more than twelve U.S. states. Over a single weekend, more than thirty Minnesota water utilities lost control of their programmable logic controllers. Operators were locked out of their own equipment. Safety alarms were silently disabled while displays continued to show normal operation. Boil-water advisories went out across multiple states, and facilities fell back to manual operations — dispatching personnel to physically operate pumps and valves. ...