At a recent Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners’ Association (NSWCA) meeting, the NSWCA received a thorough update on state of the art cybersecurity measures as they apply to the water supply industry and Long Island suppliers. The meeting was sponsored by Cathedral Gardens Water District, represented by Commissioners Ray Rockensies, Glenn Barnett, and Joseph Corino.
Guest speakers Jonathan Berlin and James Tauer 
from Total Technology Solutions (Melville NY) explained that in 2016, cyberthreats have become more rampant than ever. According to Mr. Berlin, “in today’s world, it’s a case of managing risk and compliance. Top threats to water districts can include social engineering and insider threats, malware, phishing and ransomeware. All of these affect cybersecurity can take a communications network down, destroy it, or paralyze it.
Mr. Tauer cited examples of cybercrimes against water providers across the country and explained essential measures necessary to guard against them and ensure business continuity. Total’s Layered Defense, he said, is “specifically designed to counter cybercrime. It is comprehensive, overlapping and intentionally redundant to provide the broadest and deepest threat protection. It starts with physical Water District site surveying and network assessment and includes vulnerability scanning and awareness training.”
“Water Districts are highly visible cyber targets because of the essential services we supply”, NSWCA President and Massapequa Water Commissioner Raymond J. Averna commented. “Cyber awareness training is vitally important to help maintain an uninterrupted supply of the highest quality water which is the responsibility of every one of our member Districts.”
Left to right: Vin Abbatiello NSWCA Second Vice President and Westbury Water District Commissioner; Jonathan Berlin Total Technology Solutions; Raymond Averna, NSWCA President and Massapequa Water District Commissioner; Andrew Bader, NSWCA First Vice President and Plainview Water District Commissioner; Bill Schuckmann NSWCA Treasurer and Hicksville Water District Commissioner; James Tauer, Total Technology Solutions.