Design of Cyber-Secure Water Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Numerous water and wastewater treatment utilities produce water critical to the sustenance of our daily life. Such utilities that produce clean water, and the associated distribution networks, often use industrial control systems (ICSs). Such systems include, among other devices, PLCs, sensors, and communication networks to control the treatment plant and the distribution networks. Vulnerabilities in the ICS design, PLC software, communication network, and, most importantly, the existence of the human element, lead to the potential of successful cyberattacks. Such attacks could impact the operation of the water utilities in various ways, such as, for example, component damage, the production of water of unacceptable quality, and supply interruption. Novel methods are needed to defend water plants against such cyberattacks. This Special Issue invites rersearchers to submit original work aimed at protecting water utilities against cyberattacks.

Prof. Dr. Aditya Mathur
Prof. Dr. Jianying Zhou
Dr. Gauthama Raman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.