Today’s article on Reuters about the breach at UnitedHealth got me thinking. When you look at Valley Water’s website, the words “breach” (related to cyber-security) and “ransomware” do not occur when you search for them. Valley Water needs to do better to improve communication. We need to know how they’re going to alert us to breaches of our data (because we are citizens of the county and it is our data) and what protections they have in place against ransomware attacks. Proactive communication about cybersecurity preparedness and incident response plans can serve as a critical step in safeguarding the community’s data against sophisticated cyber threats. Blackcat is one of many groups out there engaging in this activity. 

There are plenty of good solutions on the market, we need to be assured that they’re ready.

As a policy matter, I would like to see a public statement, on a web page which gives the rough outlines of how they are protecting our critical infrastructure. Just enough to give confidence to the rate-payers, but not enough for the hackers to get any ideas.

Agree or disagree? Let me know. Feel free to add your comments or thoughts below.