EPA issues enforcement alert! Big trouble brewing?

Have you ever been notified that a company you do business with was hacked and your data may have been compromised?
#buzzretirementgarage
#retirement
#cybersecurity

[@romeldagioscio9185]

You are not crying wolf. Our power grids are also in danger. Hospitals have been hacked for ransoms to be paid. Our country is in such a mess, I try to remain hopeful but it’s not easy. Love your videos, keep us informed. Thanks Buzz 🐝

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Control what we can control, right?

[@Tye1348]

Don't think you're crying wolf at all! Unfortunately, I don't think there's a viable easy answer. Most of these local facilities are run by average citizens like you and I. They were put in place for convience when the threat of these attacks wasn't there! I'll follow this up by saying our local Politicians, I'll call them that for a lack of a better description, seem to have less of a clue then the rest of the local citizens! My local board seems more interested in developing every last parcel of available land more than taking on issues such as these! Thanks for keeping our thought process open to threats like these!!!

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I hear you. Some watersheds are small but could still affect thousands. I guess we'll wait and see what happens. Buzz

[@Middleagegrind]

Cybersecurity is a career I tell my kids there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

You're absolutely right about that!

[@StorytellerSueW]

Can confirm. I worked creating internal and partner training for a great cybersecurity outfit for several years. Loved it. And yeah, it will be a sure bet for employment now and in the future.

[@irenebaker8263]

Very interesting. Great topic. Keep safe everyone. Let's look out for each other.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Hopefully the US cyber companies are smarter than the hackers.

[@alainmichaud6747]

more rain barrels for the water and no credit card anymore ... The Chinese must watch your video now (LOL) you cant worry that much or you need to go back to work !!!!! we are the lucky ones many people are not as lucky as we are. go an check your tomato grow and don't worry ... life is good Alain

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I certainly don't lose sleep over it but some simple safeguards can go a long way but too many people think it won't happen to them.

[@mikeinOhio471]

Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine tonight. I haven’t been a customer of AT&T since 2019. I got a letter two weeks ago that they got hacked and my data had been compromised. It’s a serious problem and the bad guys seem to stay a step ahead of the good guys.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That's why I put this out at night. You should be sleeping. I don't have ATT otherwise that would have been the fourth hack. Geez.

[@karinhart489]

Everyone needs to lock down their credit. You can’t take enough precautions. I’ve gotten from at&t so far 2 emails, 2 letters, & 2 credit monitoring authorization codes. Grrrr.

[@TheHavocdog]

We lived in a village of about 1500 people. Only 1 guy worked in the water treatment plant. No way could he monitor the facility enough to protect it from hackers.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Hopefully they didn't have to be hooked to the Internet.

[@judyopp7485]

Water treatment has been a major part of our work history and it is a very serious concern! It is almost impossible to protect and keep safe every community's water source. Things were so much simpler in our grandparents day! Sad the world has come to this point! 24/7 monitoring by qualified technicians is the key to municipal water safety.....along with improved technology of equipment and updated training of licensed technicians.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I agree. Hopefully we'll never see a news headline about a compromised system.

[@martinaarriaga7753]

Good points! Thank you! I do appreciate your bringing this to the table because we get so comfortable that we forget about the realities of today’s world until someone turns our lives upside down. Rather get this info now then when it’s too late, so thank you!

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Let's keep our eyes and ears open. Not much else we can do! Buzz

[@maxwellhouse750]

In 2014 a teenager went wee in a reservoir in Portland used for the water supply making them have to purge 38 million gallons of water. That was probably an overreaction but what you are talking about is not and the problem exists with all utility and communications infrastructure. In some ways we are much more vulnerable than ever before unfortunately.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I won't lose sleep over it but it is a concern to be aware of. Hopefully nothing major will happen for many years. Buzz

[@markbajek2541]

just a heads up Meijer has fresh corn on the cob 8/$1 (.15cents?) and 3lb logs of 80/20 hamburger for $2.29lb It varies a bit by location (Michigan is 5/$1 corn) and Hamburger is $2.97lb Not sure what their bottled water is running.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That corn is a great price! Lowest corn price advertised is 33 cents at Giant Eagle. 80% beef is $2.99 lb. at Giant Eagle too.

[@Barbara-jn2gw]

dang I live in the wrong state 🥺

[@markbajek2541]

@@Barbara-jn2gw Costco in MI at least a one location dumped 60count large eggs for $1.97 for 60 eggs... that's .35 cents a dozen...

[@marcc9171]

Another good video and subject. By the way I still drink water out of the garden hose when washing the truck. Take care!

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Me too but don't tell anyone. Lol

[@patriot1182]

Being a retired well driller, of course I have a drilled well which I maintain myself! I would not drink city water supply ever! Just my opinion!

[@terencesullivan3286]

City water may be safer. Depends a lot on your well, and how often it's tested. Ground water was long considered to be the best source of drinking water. Protected from many contaminant sources, and naturally filtered. Cleveland draws water from Lake Erie, and Detroit from Lake Huron. Both massive sources of fresh water. As the saying goes, the solution to pollution is dilution. The EPA sets minimum standards, and individual systems which service over 3300 customers can set their own. Provided they are above the minimum. All are compliant I believe. So, if your wells report card meets the EPA standard. You're good-to-go!

[@patriot1182]

@@terencesullivan3286 I don't want to brag, but I just retired from a company owned by Franklin Electric, I being an expert in water filtration and well pumping systems! I test my water regularly and I live in an area that has no industrial contamination! Yes lucky me! I have 50 acres of pristine land! I don't use poisons on my property and neither do my neighbors! I am also a health food nut! I am the water guy! My dad was a driller and started the business in 1950!

[@williamread8186]

The two water companies I deal with every year send out a water quality report detailing the amoint of chemicals in the water and what the health standards are. I trust that the reports are accurate and honest. I do read them though.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

But if they're hacked and the hacker turns the knob to release more chemicals you may not know it until it's too late.

[@keithbuckley1847]

A wireless society has tremendous risk! Cybersecurity is critical, but still not a perfect solution. I too have no answers either. Water treatment - from what I understand outside of the large cities, most corporations are quite small, thus limited budgets. This makes training and upgrading staff very difficult.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Very true. Hopefully any issues will be detected by vigilance. Buzz

[@Rsomero]

Nice, thanks for the tour.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Thanks for watching.

[@oldbloke204]

I shall now don my prepper hat. This has been an ongoing issue for quite a while now and most people have absolutely no clue just how vulnerable our systems are or just how much chaos attacks can cause. How would most people go if the water, power, sewer were disabled for any length of time? I watch a prepper channel on here every now and again and the guy who fronts it is actually in IT security and the comments he made were quite confronting concerning in regards to the systems running things that he has seen. I'm actually running down and replenishing stuff we keep at home now and our property has rainwater, firewood, fruit/vegies etc so that if it all goes wrong we won't be too badly affected by it all. Most modern houses/suburbs/cities would be unliveable in very short order if services were turned off these days. Think about water not coming out of the taps, or it being unusable, power not coming out of the sockets or not being able to use your toilet/shower or whatever else. We also have a lot of camping gear etc so cooking, lighting and water purification should be sorted. In terms of financial stuff I print off a copy of our account balances each month when I balance our account and store them with a hard copy of our statements. When I set up a Term Deposit I print off the details and store that as well. It maybe won't help much but at least I have a copy of what was in the bank if needed. We also keep some cash at home although it may be of limited value if the power goes down and the shops can't function but it is useful if the electronic payment systems go down. I'm not suggesting that people panic or go full crazy on this stuff but a bit of thought about how reliant most of us are and what we would do if what we take for granted becomes unreliable may save people a lot of stress and worry when/if it happens. Glorious weather here atm but still no rain which is becoming a bit of an issue. Cheers.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Sometimes you think it's just a movie. I try not to worry but am I not worrying enough? Three companies have sent me letters offering monitoring. It's hitting home now it's it's not a far fetched conspiracy theory any longer. Hope you get some rain soon! Buzz

[@oldbloke204]

This stuff was never a conspiracy theory imo more that people just didn't think it could happen in this day and age. I doubt anyone saw us being locked down a few years back but pandemics are pretty common and we were well overdue. A City in South Africa basically ran out of water a few years back. This stuff can happen. Your FEMA is advising people what to do in terms of preparing now in case of war or whatever from what I saw recently. No real point in worrying imo just have a think and make a few changes to the way you do things. Have a week or two's worth of food and water in the house, have a way to charge phones or run camping lights if the power goes down, have a bit of cash on hand, keep vehicles filled with fuel etc etc. None of this is particularly hard or expensive to do imo. Oh yeah don't forget the toilet paper. We still have some from a few years back.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

@@oldbloke204 Good advice!

[@oldbloke204]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage I remember when the health thing hit a few years back I went and talked to the rev limiter about stocking up. She wasn't that interested, working long hours at the time, but was happy for me to do what I wanted to do. I stocked up over a few weeks and had enough stuff to get us by for quite a while. I went to different places and got a bit each time whilst there was still plenty on the shelves. I tried to warn workmates and they looked at my like I was an idiot and went back to talking about sport or whatever. A few weeks later they were panicking as store shelves emptied and blamed people like me for it. I took a lot more delight in pointing out their failures in thought processes than I should have. We basically weren't affected by it all. You used to work in manufacturing, likely using a form of JIT, so you know what happens when something isn't there when you need it. Same thing in life imo.

[@kristybowman8731]

Who are you watching? Lots of the prepping channels are so extreme/alarmist, I just can't watch. We've been prepping for about 20 years and it has saved us multiple times!

[@ppartin1103]

Thanks Buzz

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Be careful out there.

[@colleenj225]

I live in Mexico. Reverse Osmosis is the answer. I lived in Clearwater when the local water supply was attacked. A few hundred bucks buys the solution.

[@CandycaneBeyond]

Or boil water

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

True. I know people that do that but presently I don't.

[@TomiAnneTimm]

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

[@oldbloke204]

Good luck eating or drinking these particular treasures or paying bills if you don't have enough money to do so.

[@cheryldawnejackson]

Tipton, Indiana's water treatment plant had a cyber attack in April. They say it was resolved quickly. A local hospital was hacked a couple of weeks ago and still hasn't recovered all of their operations yet. It is the new reality!

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

And so it starts.....

[@lawrencedavid9768]

10 K - Atta boy Buzz……🎉

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Thank you but it's all about views so they tell me. Buzz

[@FailureatRetirement]

I agree that cyber security is a huge issue in this country. I feel like that would be the easiest way to attack or just cause chaos in this country. I know just a tiny bit about water and have monitored a couple of very small systems. First the safe drinking water act has been updated many times over the years and we are no longer concerned with meeting 1974 standards. Second, there are millions more systems in this country than anyone would ever expect. I know of several HOA’s that have their own system for less than 50 homes each. These are the systems that struggle to meet the standards because the funding to upgrade isn’t there. I’ve been to a couple that only have a combination lock on the door. The good news is that they aren’t even on the internet. Finally, there is water and wastewater. In my experience wastewater is the smelly one and around here nobody is drinking that. They do have their own standards they have to meet, they could also be hacked, and could give us a whole different set of problems. I don’t think they will let you film at the plant but I will watch if you do.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Good answer. You're right about the filming too. I thought about that after I said it. I'd still like to interview someone from my local plant if I can.

[@FailureatRetirement]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage doesn’t hurt to ask

[@user-dg8qg4qw8t]

I belong to a home title monitoring service and they say all our info is readily available on the dark web. So just have to keep track of our own credit and other info to protect ourselves. It's not a matter of if but when.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That's what I'm afraid of. I keep a lot more documentation now. You never know. Buzz

[@DonRicky.]

Unfortunately I have learned that most people don't act unless it directly affects them.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Absolutely true. Hopefully the "guardians" are looking out for us....

[@bpage3]

I've been in the potable water treatment industry for almost 30 years. Not even taking into account the threat of cyber attacks, if you have all your process control schemes operated entirely through SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), without the ability to operate your facility in manual/hand mode, you're asking for trouble. You could be taken out by any plethora of hazards, fires, lightning strikes, equipment failures, etc. Manual operations is the base line of properly managing a facility. Electronic control schemes are mostly a convenience, not the be-all end-all of facility operations. Weak passwords? That's just stupidity.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Good info! So what are your top industry worries if you have any? Buzz

[@bpage3]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage In the broadest sense, supply. Of course each system has their own unique issues. But with population growth, climate impacts on source waters and increasing needs for contaminant removal, it's the cost of treatment and distribution that I believe will be our biggest hurdle in the future.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

@@bpage3 Thank you for that explanation!

[@chhook949]

Not really sure who said it but the next war will not be for Control,Oil/Gas it will be Over Fresh Water.

[@tomkrause62]

Our daughter lives in a rural community of approx. 2000 people and is connected to their municipal water system. The water that comes out of their faucets has a color somewhere between urine and strong tea, depending on the day. State says it's safe to drink, but who would want to?? Can't wash clothes in it, can barely bathe in it, and the city is charging them money for it.

[@scottc3029]

What else would the government say.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That doesn't sound right at all. But, we need more details. Maybe there's a good reason?

[@bpage3]

She might want to look up "tannin color in water" and "iron color in water". Those are the usual suspects for yellowish tinged water. Neither is typically a health risk unless in astronomical quantities.

[@tomkrause62]

@@bpage3 Fully aware of what ir is, and yes you could theoretically filter it out, but the point is that for the price theyre PAYING for it tgey should be getting useable water. If you BUY bottled water do you expext to have filter it before using it?? I have well at home, dont have to filter my water and its basically free.(no, 120mi round trip makes it a bit tough to transport water to her)

[@bobcaygeon975]

Distillation is the only true way, it removes the water from the chemicals.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Makes sense.

[@1hunterdale]

simple fix keep water plant off internet .

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I wonder why they need to be on the Internet?

[@xlerb2286]

So much of our infrastructure is from an age before computers and where people were mainly uninterested in or technically unable to attack those systems. Now add in some computer automation on top of those systems - automation developed with that old "nobody's interested in harming this" mindset and we've got a mess. Pretty much every piece of infrastructure is open to a serious hacking attempt.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Hopefully the smart people will protect our assets. Buzz

[@TheFatesLieutenant]

I've been notified of multiple data breaches by private companies, State agencies, etc. over the years (that's why we locked down our credit reports, etc. years ago) - of all the various entities, the private companies are the worst. People don't take the threat seriously until it is too late (even though they know better).

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That's a good point. Too many times they say, "what happened?". Buzz

[@mydanshi9683]

Hmmmm, ‘Watch the water’ 🧐. I suggest getting a Berkey water filter. Even before this alert, nobody needs to be drinking a bunch of pharmaceuticals that get recycled and they don’t even test for. Maybe you could ask about that if you visit the water treatment works. Swap fiat notes and digits on screens for real things, like silver coins, take screenshots of your online bank balances and keep paper statements. Print photos or back up offline. I think it’s just going to get crazier out there!

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I do have a chlorine filter on my drinking water but maybe I need something better.

[@GowdyStuff]

You must be a closet Q follower like me.... 🙂 I also have a Berkey Water filter. The FDA went after them however...they (the government) don't want us to be safe and self-sufficient. Other companies have sprung up to fill the void of the replaceable activated carbon filters.

[@johngarceau541]

Interesting

[@anderspedersen6750]

Then you mail your check, and someone steals your mail ;)

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That does happen! Last news story I saw the postal worker was opening envelopes and stealing cars and lottery tickets. Rare, but it does happen. Buzz

[@anderspedersen6750]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage used to be more common. I never put mail in the flag up mailboxes that had payments in them.

[@Bill-dj9hv]

I wouldn't get my shorts in a twist over this.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

It's actually bigger than this. Like I said, I've received three free credit monitoring invitations because three companies I deal with have been hacked. Remember when MGM was hacked and how long they were down? It's the tip of the iceberg. Believe me.

[@archkod]

Interesting topic, Buzz. Do think this is where governments have to introduce more regulation and standards for industry particularly since e-commerce has grown exponentially. In the UK cyber security is a bit better as the EU had developed strict regulation. If I was in the US I would subscribe to credit monitoring companies. For water, England (not all UK) is in an absolute mess due to thatcher privatizing all utilities in 1989. So our water infrastructure is broken down and is owned by countries including large one beginning with C. Profits via dividends verses investment. We have had lots of sewage dumping off the coast and reservoir resulting in parasite outbreak in Devon over the last 2 weeks. Scotland and Wales own their water system and these problems don’t exist.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

That's very interesting. I had no clue about the privatizing of the water companies. Since we received so many free offers for credit monitoring because so many companies we deal with have been hacked, our credit is being monitored. (Until the credit monitoring company gets hacked). Buzz

[@RetiredLovingIt]

That is quite concerning

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

If companies and utilities can be hacked and major havoc is a result of it, it could be a bad day for some.

[@stevegorkowski3246]

Buzz your retirement money accounts have steps you must do to move large amounts of money to other accounts. I moved my retirement money from work accounts to my new retirement accounts and it took some time. If you want insurance you can get over a million dollar policy and protection for very cheap. I filter all my drinking water. I collect rain water to water the garden. Filter your city water if you use it to water your garden.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I'm thinking ETrade or (pick one) gets hacked and their system good be down for weeks. Remember MGM and other Vegas venues. If ETrade doesn't have great backups how would they know what I have? Maybe that insurance would be a good idea. What type of filter are you using for the water? Buzz

[@stevegorkowski3246]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage Berkey for drinking and boogie blue for the garden. There are many good ones out there.

[@stevegorkowski3246]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage IT systems make backups daily. Backup all your stuff to SD cards or other systems.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

@@stevegorkowski3246 $66 for the Boogie. Hmmmm.

[@stevegorkowski3246]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage $66 dollar one is the plus version. I use the standard one.

[@bluesdirt6555]

We have well water with arsenic!

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Umm. That's not good. What do you do now?

[@bluesdirt6555]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage Our village offers yearly testing results. We have reverse osmosis along with a softener. We are scheduled to have city water around 2033 . City water is not the greatest either.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

@@bluesdirt6555 Ok. So you have something good happening.

[@CarmenFatima]

Having multiple layers of security will make a plant or facility more robust against cybler attacks. Weakest link is the people, all it takes is clicking into a compromised link to put an entire system at risk. I can't help but wonder what life will be like when more and more AI is implemented across the board.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

My point exactly. It doesn't keep me up at night, but we are a naive species. Buzz

[@brucesnyder690]

In Thailand. Only drink bottled water. Inexpensive here.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Where does that water come from?

[@brucesnyder690]

@@BuzzRetirementGarage typically spring water and underground water.

[@ddellwo]

Moses’ set of rules were written around 1200 BC and last I checked we’re still not in compliance with those guidelines either……..😐

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

I just fear that the hacking is going to get worse with time. I hope not but......

[@ddellwo]

Hey Buzz - this is the kind of BS I watch retirement videos to GET AWAY from………😵‍💫

[@laurac2949]

I filter all my drinking water. I can tell from the disgusting smell of it out of the sink that there is too much junk in it

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

And that's Before it gets hacked. Lol

[@WorldMoneyWins]

Cant hack gold and silver. 🙂

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Sure they can. Your excellent video on fakes shows that people can steal your money 🤑

[@brianjohnson9765]

6:56

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Oh oh, what did I say?

[@rickstapp9769]

Another example of Bidens America

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Problem well before him.

[@scottc3029]

Drill your own well, skip the per-mit. Use a hand pump. Keep your mouth shut.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Years ago I was actually thinking about that. The goal was to water the garden with the water. Buzz

[@chhook949]

Not a fan of this Vlog 😳 Your Scaring me. Pretty sure we are aware this truly exists but when it put directly in front of you eyes wide open. Know cyber attacks happen at a rate us mere mortals can’t fathom very grateful almost all are found & contained. Way Above My Pay Grade🫣 Love this Video gets us asking questions and bring our concerns to those departments that we rely on. Like your thoughts, Prayers to All in Harms Way either by Weather,Physical or Mental Health or other issues people might need a Prayer! All The Best! Be Well Be Safe & Stay Blessed.

[@BuzzRetirementGarage]

Didn't mean to scare you and I don't lose sleep over it but it's something to be aware of when the government is sounding the alarm. Hopefully the right people are paying heed and they'll keep us safe. Buzz