Why are the control systems for critical infrastructure connected to the Internet in the first place?
Because midlevel to upper management controllers in these companies love the vanity of being able to see and control things from their homes, yachts and vacation villas. Also government also wants real time monitoring access as well. It’s too inconvenient for government bureaucrats and private company CEO’s if these utilities are hard wired and kept off the public inter-net grids.
Cost savings, purported production efficiencies, "real time" environmental monitoring, etc.... There is one Fortune 500 midstream (ie. pipeline) company my firm has worked with who has touted for years their investments in technology to operate their network from literally anywhere. When Covid broke out they were very proud of the fact that managers "could run the entire system from their bedrooms." Not saying I agree with it, but they even put it at the beginning of their annual reports. From their own investment literature and 10K reports:
digital transformation increasing cash flow while minimizing risk via real-time optimization & decision making. XXX Technology Ventures evaluating emerging technologies to improve sustainability and drive efficiencies
All this means is that hacking and internet security will be even more critical to US infrastructure in the future
Exactly.
Blame execs who want to control and monitor things remotely. I’ve seen HVAC in schools connected to the internet for troubleshooting.
Its not supposed to be