29

THE KANSAS LIFELINE

July 2018

InfraGard, a nonprofit organization.

They started with chapters across the

U.S., whose goal is to promote mutual

cybersecurity learning opportunities

relevant to protection of critical

infrastructure. In fact, the FBI has

designated water/wastewater as one of

16 critical infrastructure sectors.

According to the InfraGard website,

there are approximately 153,000 public

drinking water systems and more than

16,000 publicly owned wastewater

treatment systems in the United States.

More than 80 percent of the U.S.

population receives their potable water

from these drinking water systems, and

about 75 percent of the U.S. population

has its sanitary sewerage treated by

these wastewater systems. The Water

experiences and best practices. There

are chapters in Nebraska. Oklahoma

and Kansas. Membership is free and

the online resources are incredibly

useful. 

https://www.infragard.org

/application/general/newapplication

Join Infragard, use the free resources

that are out there and start changing

your cyber culture to THINK BEFORE

YOU CLICK.

and Wastewater Systems Sector is

vulnerable to a variety of attacks,

including contamination with deadly

agents; physical attacks, such as the

release of toxic gaseous chemicals; and

cyberattacks. The result of any variety

of attack could be large numbers of

illnesses or casualties and/or a denial of

service that would also impact public

health and economic vitality. Critical

services, such as firefighting and

healthcare (hospitals), and other

dependent and interdependent sectors,

such as Energy, Food and Agriculture,

and Transportation Systems, would

suffer negative impacts from a denial

of service in the Water and Wastewater

Systems Sector.

InfraGard has 82 chapters with more

than 46,000 members nationwide

helping to protect and defend critical

infrastructures. At the chapter level,

members meet to discuss threats and

other matters that impact their

companies. The meetings – led by a

local governing board and an FBI agent

who serves as InfraGard coordinator –

give everyone an opportunity to share

Elizabeth Dietzmann is an

attorney who has worked

with rural and municipal

utility boards across the

country as general 

and special counsel on

various issues. 

She can be reached at

edietzmann@gmail.com

Join Infragard, use the

free resources that are

out there and start

changing your cyber

culture to THINK BEFORE

YOU CLICK.