By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona legislative Republicans are requesting the state’s governor to take action to protect water and wastewater systems from cyberattacks.
On Tuesday, the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus called on Governor Katie Hobbs “to take swift action to protect Arizona’s critical infrastructure from adversary nations seeking to unleash harm on the United States.”
The demand from the lawmakers follows a letter from the White House to state governors, warning of “the impending threat of cyberattacks.”
In that letter, which was signed by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the White House identified two of those “recent and ongoing” threats. The first was from “threat actors affiliated with the Iranian Government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” This threat, according to the letter, has “carried out malicious cyberattacks against United States critical infrastructure entities, including drinking water systems.”
The second threat was from “The People’s Republic of China state-sponsored cyber group known as Volt Typhoon.” This adversary, per the letter, “has compromised information technology of multiple critical infrastructure systems, including drinking water, in the United States and its territories.”
Senate President Warren Petersen issued a statement in conjunction with his Caucus’ call to the governor, saying, “Water is vital to lives and livelihoods. It’s concerning the Governor has yet to share any information with the Legislature, or the public, on this matter. What’s even more concerning is at a recent stakeholder meeting on a completely separate issue, a representative from the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs expressed to our lawmakers no knowledge of this warning from the White House.”
According to the Administration’s communication, these cyberattacks “have the potential to disrupt the critical lifeline of clean and safe drinking water, as well as impose significant costs on affected communities.”
Petersen also shared his thoughts on what the governor should do in order to protect the state from these cyberattacks. He wrote, “I encourage her to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of our citizens by taking steps to protect Arizona’s critical infrastructure from enemy nations who are a known threat to our state and country. This includes signing our legislation crafted specifically to mitigate these threats, such as SB 1403, SB 1340, and SB 1123.”
SB 1403, sponsored by Senator Janae Shamp, would “make it generally unlawful for specified foreign principals to purchase, own, acquire by grant or devise or have any other interest in (hold) real property” – according to the Arizona House overview.
SB 1340, sponsored by Senator Frank Carroll, would “prohibit a publicly managed fund from holding an investment in a foreign adversary, a state-owned enterprise of a foreign adversary, a company domiciled within a foreign adversary, or any other entity owned by or domiciled in a foreign adversary; or investing or depositing public monies in a bank that is domiciled in, or has a principal place of business in, a foreign adversary” – according to the summary from the Arizona House.
SB 1123, sponsored by Senator Wendy Rogers, would “prohibit a business or governmental entity in Arizona from entering into an agreement involving critical infrastructure if certain criteria apply.”
The letter from the Biden Administration officials requested the help of state governors “to ensure that all water systems in your state comprehensively assess their current cybersecurity practices to identify any significant vulnerabilities, deploy practices and controls to reduce cybersecurity risks where needed, and exercise plans to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a cyber incident.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
