Ed Molleo, the executive director of the Maine Water Utilities Association, said phishing emails and AI-driven tools and scanners are constantly testing Maine infrastructure for vulnerabilities, from small networks serving rural Maine to large systems serving its biggest cities. “People are probing the water systems and wastewater systems across our entire state every single day of the week,” Molleo said. To counter this, many Maine utilities are completely isolating critical equipment from the public internet, he said. AdvertisementHowever, maintaining robust cybersecurity comes at a time when local utilities face a worsening financial crunch, Molleo said. That leaves Maine water utilities struggling to balance cybersecurity upgrades against emergency physical repairs, such as replacing aging pipes or mitigating forever chemical contamination, said Molleo.