Outdated Operating Systems are Open to Attack

The industrial control systems that water districts use to manage valves, pipes, and other infrastructure are notoriously open to attack.

The most common vulnerabilities: remote-access networks, obvious passwords, and software so old that the manufacturer had stopped making fixes to protect against intruders. 

The worst part – an IBM study found that vulnerabilities are known for years often “remain untouched because organizations are afraid to make any changes that might cause downtime.”