{"id":837727,"date":"2026-08-01T12:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837727\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T12:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:14:13","slug":"sweeping-cyberattack-on-water-systems-in-multiple-states-has-us-officials-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837727\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweeping cyberattack on water systems in multiple states has US officials on edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s 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\u2019t affected. No incidents of contamination have been reported.\n <\/p>\n

\n The hackers \u201care targeting water entities of all sizes,\u201d CISA said <\/a>in a warning Thursday that urged water facilities to get vulnerable industrial equipment offline.\n <\/p>\n

\n 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n 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 \u201clikely desired impact\u201d of the hackers\u2019 intrusion at the water facilities was \u201cto cause loss of system pressure and subsequent potential contamination of water supply,\u201d said the memo distributed this week by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n At a cabinet meeting Friday, President Donald Trump blamed Minnesota authorities for the hack and cast doubt on whether Iran was involved. \u201cThey like to say, \u201cOh, it\u2019s Iran.\u2019\u201d Trump said. \u201cIran should be so lucky. Iran\u2019s got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The New York Times first reported<\/a> on the possible Iran connection.\n <\/p>\n

\n The hackers are targeting internet-facing programmable logic controllers (PLCs), the devices that allow machinery to communicate at water facilities and other industrial plants. PLCs monitor water pressure, chemical dosing and other features in water systems to ensure they are safe.\n <\/p>\n

\n The hacks are not complicated: The attackers are breaking into PLCs that are sitting online and vulnerable.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI suspect that those attackers are going to \u2026 continue to look nationally across the infrastructure,\u201d John Israel, Minnesota\u2019s chief information security officer, told CNN on Tuesday. The hackers will \u201ccontinue to rattle those doorknobs and try to break into systems that have weak configurations,\u201d Israel added.\n <\/p>\n

\n He was right.\n <\/p>\n

\n Roughly six states have reported related cyber incidents over the last week, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.\n <\/p>\n

\n Officials in Wisconsin detected malicious cyber activity at their water facilities on Monday and urged utilities to take \u201cimmediate action to prevent potentially serious impacts to our systems,\u201d according to a memo from the state\u2019s Department of Natural Resources obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n The incident is another in a series of recent cyberattacks that have raised safety concerns for US water utilities. The water sector has for years struggled with funding and training to defend itself from cyber threats.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC), an industry hub for cyber threat data, has urged utilities to shore up their systems in the last week.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe scale and coordination of the recent cyberattacks targeting Minnesota water suppliers is unprecedented,\u201d Gus Serino, a longtime cybersecurity specialist focused on the water sector told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhile the inherent resilience of the water sector helped limit operational impacts, these incidents once again demonstrate that many drinking water utilities continue to rely on technology architectures that lack fundamental cybersecurity controls capable of preventing or significantly impeding this type of attack,\u201d Serino said.\n <\/p>\n

\n While the US government has not blamed anyone for the spate of hacks, Iran does have a history of hacking the water sector, including during the current war with the US.\n <\/p>\n

\n In April, CNN reported<\/a> that Iran-linked hackers had successfully targeted and caused disruptions at multiple US oil and gas and water sites.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe rising number of water compromises is deeply concerning. So much depends upon water\u2026 No water, no hospital, no kidding\u2026 in 2-4 hours,\u201d Joshua Corman, another industrial cybersecurity expert who co-founded I am the Cavalry, a volunteer group that focuses on cybersecurity for resource-poor organizations.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWater systems have enjoyed the benefits of remote access, but now those who wish us harm have it, too,\u201d Corman told CNN. \u201cWith great connectivity comes great responsibility. We should be asking ourselves: if we can\u2019t protect it, should we disconnect it?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n This story has been updated with additional developments.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hackers have targeted water systems in several US states in a coordinated cyberattack that has caused some utilities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-837727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}