Editor's Note: This article is part of an ongoing RANE series on the geopolitical impacts of water stress. The first installment of this series provided a broad overview of how the unequal distribution of freshwater shapes geopolitical patterns. Other installments have examined the impacts of water stress on the global economy , Europe , China , the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa , Israel , Central Asia , Chile , the Middle East , the Mekong River region , climate investment , India , and North Africa . Cyberattacks on water utilities in highly water-stressed areas threaten to disrupt agriculture and industrial processes, exacerbate social unrest and cause civilian casualties, especially in periods of high tension or outright conflict. As the effects of climate change become increasingly palpable, particularly in geographic regions with high water stress, scrutiny of cyber threat actors' potential disruption of water flows is rising.