On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an enforcement alert warning of cyberattacks on community drinking water systems across the nation.

The EPA stated that its inspections found that over 70% of water systems did not “fully comply with requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act and that some of those systems have critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities.” The EPA noted that default passwords have not been updated and single logins being used leave the systems vulnerable. It also suggested system operators reduce exposure to public-facing internet, conduct regular cybersecurity assessments, change default passwords immediately, and conduct an inventory of OT/IT assets, among other tasks.

“In many cases, systems are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is to have completed a risk assessment of their vulnerabilities that includes cybersecurity and to make sure that plan is available and informing the way they do business,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe, the Associated Press reported.

McCabe said China, Russia and Iran are “actively seeking the capability to disable U.S. critical infrastructure, including water and wastewater.”

In May 2023, Microsoft reported that state-backed Chinese hackers called Volt Typhoon were targeting infrastructure systems in the United States. Those attempts included drinking water, AP noted.  In November 2023, The Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa said one of their booster stations had been hacked by a cyber-group calling itself Cyber Av3ngers that was backed by Iran.

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Last month, a Russian hacktivist group hacked into a Texas town’s water system.  “There were 37,000 attempts in four days to log into our firewall,” said Mike Cypert, city manager of Hale Center.

“By working behind the scenes with these hacktivist groups, now these (nation states) have plausible deniability and they can let these groups carry out destructive attacks. And that to me is a game-changer,” Dawn Cappelli, a cybersecurity expert, stated.

“In an ideal world … we would like everybody to have a baseline level of cybersecurity and be able to confirm that they have that,” Alan Roberson, executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, said. “But that’s a long ways away.”

A Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 ran into severe turbulence on its flight from London to Singapore on Tuesday, resulting in one death and at least 30 injuries.

Flight SQ 321 was diverted to Bangkok after hitting turbulence and landed at 3:45 p.m. local time, the BBC reported. There were 211 passengers and 18 crew aboard the aircraft. It remains unclear if the person who died was a passenger or part of the crew. Airline tracking data showed that Flight SQ 321 dropped around 6,000 feet after hitting an air pocket, according to The Guardian.

The airline confirmed the incident in a statement posted to social media.

“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased,” the airline said.

“Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft,” the airline added. “We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed.”

Singapore Airlines didn’t specify how many people had been injured in the incident, but multiple outlets have reported that 30 people were hurt.

Thai authorities and first responders were on the scene after the Singapore Airlines plane landed at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

Turbulence occurs when an aircraft is hit with “an irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents,” according to the National Weather Service. Turbulence is common for all commercial flights and can happen anywhere regardless of weather conditions, but it can be “associated with fronts, wind shear, thunderstorms, etc.,” NWS says.

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“Severe” is the second most intense form of turbulence an aircraft can encounter. It results in “large, abrupt changes in altitude and/or attitude,” which can also cause the aircraft to “be momentarily out of control.” Only “Extreme” turbulence is worse and results in an aircraft being “violently tossed about and practically impossible to control.”