A Systematic Assessment of Cyberattacks on Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems

Water and wastewater treatment systems constitute critical infrastructure that requires systemic understanding due to their essential to public health, environmental protection, and national security. The rapid integration of modern technologies into water treatment operations continues to expand the attack surface, therefore making water and wastewater systems vulnerable to sophisticated cyberattacks. This study presents a vulnerability analysis of water and wastewater treatment systems through systematic attack simulations using system dynamics modeling. Forty attacks, comprising single-stage single-point, single-stage multi-point, multiple-stage single-point, and multiple-stage multi-point, were simulated across four water and wastewater architectures, namely Center Water, Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO), Wastewater, and Secure Water Treatment (SWAT). Each attack was evaluated against three metrics, namely system performance, tank overflow, and tank damage. The results reveal pervasive vulnerabilities across all architectures, including single points of failure in sensors and actuators, the absence of redundancy and cross-validation mechanisms, inadequate anomaly detection capabilities, and insufficient authentication protocols. Performance impacts ranged from partial degradation to complete system failure. Tank overflow conditions occurred when compromised feedback loops amplified flow imbalances and when alarm systems were subverted to mask dangerous conditions. Tank damage manifested through progressive drainage, pressure cycling, and mechanical stress induced by coordinated attack vectors. This study contributes to critical infrastructure protection by providing exploitable weaknesses in contemporary water treatment designs and establishing a three-metric evaluation framework for quantifying attack severity. The findings would be useful for utility operators, system designers, cybersecurity professionals, and policymakers, providing actionable insights for enhancing water infrastructure resilience.