Despite federal warnings, thousands of U.S. industrial controllers used in water systems remain exposed online
Brief
A new scan of internet-connected industrial equipment found over 4,000 Rockwell Automation and Allen-Bradley controllers exposed online, including 22 in cities impacted by cyberattacks on U. S. water systems.
The findings, published Wednesday by Forescout’s Vedere Labs, show that direct internet access to equipment used in water and wastewater operations remains common despite years of warnings from manufacturers and federal agencies.
The exposed devices use EtherNet/IP, an industrial protocol that allows for communication between control equipment, engineering workstations and other systems. When the port is open to the public internet, outside users may be able to identify devices and, depending on their setup, change settings or write new configurations.