Hackers have targeted water systems in several US states in a coordinated cyberattack that has caused some utilities to issue boil-water notices and switch to manual mode, taking their systems offline, according to US officials.
It’s one of the most serious cyberattacks on water systems in the US in years, according to some analysts. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency have for the last week been scrambling to try to help secure the water facilities and ensure that the safety of drinking water isn’t affected. No incidents of contamination have been reported.
The hackers “are targeting water entities of all sizes,” CISA said in a warning Thursday that urged water facilities to get vulnerable industrial equipment offline.
US and state officials are treating Iran as one of the suspects behind the hack, but have not made a formal determination of who is responsible and are wary of false flags.
The first public sign of the cyberattacks came from Minnesota authorities, who said that hackers on Sunday night and Monday morning targeted about 30 water systems in that state. The “likely desired impact” of the hackers’ intrusion at the water facilities was “to cause loss of system pressure and subsequent potential contamination of water supply,” said the memo distributed this week by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and obtained by CNN.
