A new report by cybersecurity firm Semperis shows more than 60% of water and electricity organizations in the U.S. and U.K. faced cyber attacks in the past year. Recent cuts to cybersecurity workers across U.S. agencies are also fueling safety concerns.

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A recent report by cybersecurity firm Semperis has highlighted concerns regarding the safety of critical infrastructure in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the report, over 60% of water and electricity organizations in these regions have faced cyber attacks in the past year. Notably, 80% of these organizations reported experiencing repeated cyber incursions, indicating a persistent and ongoing threat. These organizations are particularly vulnerable due to limited resources and insufficient technical expertise to effectively fending off sophisticated cyber adversaries.

In addition to these alarming findings, there are safety concerns arising from the reduction in cybersecurity personnel across United States agencies. At the forefront of these concerns is the potential workforce cut at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where up to 1,300 employees may be affected. This represents nearly a third of the agency's personnel. The reduction plans include encouraging retirements and buyout options, with the timing remaining somewhat ambiguous though potentially unfolding in the coming weeks.

The report also underscores the challenge posed by state actors who exploit these vulnerabilities, with examples such as Chinese state actors mentioned. They employ sophisticated tactics to infiltrate infrastructure systems, often undetected. Despite advancements in cybersecurity technology and efforts by experts to bolster defenses, the pace of offensive cyber threats appears to be outstripping progress in defensive measures. Former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis has emphasized the urgent need to boost cyber defenses as national infrastructure remains at significant risk.



Cuts to cybersecurity workers across U.S. fuel safety concerns

We begin tonight with a warning of increased threats to critical infrastructure. The new report by cybersecurity firm Sempris shows more than 60% of water and electricity organizations in the U.S. and U.K. faced cyber attacks in the past year. Recent cuts to cybersecurity workers across U.S. agencies are also fueling safety concerns. CBS's Nicole Skanga has been reporting on this and joins me now. So why so many attacks? Why is this such a target-rich environment? Yeah, John, absolutely. And this report, we should say, by Sempris also lays forth that of all of these organizations that reported being attacked in the past year, 80% said they were attacked multiple times, day in and day out. And John, we know that many of these water utilities and the patchwork that make up our power grid are resource-poor, target-rich. And that means that cybersecurity adversaries are looking towards them because they often lack the technical expertise and the technology to detect those attackers as they enter into their systems. Take Chinese state actors, for instance. They're very good at what's called living off the land. That's cyberspeak for slipping into critical infrastructure unnoticed using a company's own tools and credentials to blend in. We spoke to former National Cyber Director, Chris Inglis. He told us the U.S. right now is essentially losing this fight. Take a listen. Is there a concern that these state actors are outpacing our country's cyber defenses? Well, that concern is a justified concern. And I think at the moment we could say that it's being realized in a way that it's not to our advantage, that we are falling further behind. But the defenses are making progress to be sure we have better technology, we have people, whether they're chief information security officers and a cadre of technical experts who are better by a country mile than they were five, 10 years ago. But the offense is proceeding much more quickly. So, Nicole, if the offense is proceeding quickly, you've been reporting on cuts to the cyber defense agency. So what's that gonna cause, those cuts? As many as 1,300 employees could be pushed out, John, or incentivized to leave the nation's top cyber defense agency. In fact, as we were in the intro just then, an email went out to all CISA employees. It's called CISA, it's in charge of helping to solve the problem we just talked about, John, kicking out insider threats and foreign adversaries from US critical infrastructure. And if 1,300 sounds like a small number, it's not. That's roughly a third of the agency. That email that just went out incentivizing individuals to take early retirement or a buyout option. The timing of these cuts, a little bit unclear, but the workforce reduction likely to come in the coming weeks.

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