Water Utility Isolates SCADA During a Live Breach Without Shutting Down Treatment
100%
Treatment uptime during incident
The Problem
Water treatment facilities rely on SCADA systems that bridge the IT and OT domains. Historian databases at Purdue Level 3 contain process recipes, setpoint configurations, and operational data that attackers can use to manipulate treatment processes or cause environmental harm.
The Scenario
An intrusion was detected in the utility's IT network. Security teams needed to isolate OT systems immediately, but shutting down SCADA would halt water treatment for 200,000 residents. The utility needed to sever the digital path between IT and OT without disrupting the physical process.
The Protection
- SCADA historian data physically disconnected from IT network at Layer 1
- Process recipes and setpoint configurations stored in offline vault
- HMI configuration backups isolated from any network-accessible storage
- IEC 62443 zone and conduit model enforced through physical architecture
The Outcome
100% Treatment uptime during incident
Treatment operations continued uninterrupted throughout the incident. Attackers could not access process control data because the physical path did not exist. The utility restored full IT-OT connectivity only after forensic clearance, with validated configurations from the offline vault.
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