{"id":362781,"date":"2026-06-16T13:52:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/362781\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:52:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:52:39","slug":"iran-linked-hackers-claim-breach-of-ca-water-systems-in-bakersfield-visalia-chico-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/362781\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-linked hackers claim breach of CA water systems in Bakersfield, Visalia, Chico"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A reported cyber breach involving several California water systems has raised concerns about the security of critical infrastructure, though the water provider says there are no signs service has been disrupted.<\/p>\n

The breach happened last Thursday and involved systems connected to Bakersfield, Visalia and Chico. <\/p>\n

It was allegedly carried out by an Iranian-linked hacker group known as Handala. <\/p>\n

The group provided a screenshot of customer billing information to an Iranian news outlet, Press TV, and told the outlet in part, \u201cWe could have easily cut off the water to American cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Iran-linked<\/p>\n

Iran-linked hackers claim breach of California water systems in Bakersfield, Visalia, Chico (KUTV Photo)<\/p>\n

California Water Service said it is investigating the potential hack, but that \u201cpreliminary findings continue to indicate that there are no known operational disruptions to our water and wastewater systems, including the billing platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Rep. Vince Fong called the incident \u201ca wake-up call,\u201d adding, \u201cWe are in a heightened threat environment, and adversaries are actively targeting our water infrastructure, hospitals, and other soft targets in our backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cybersecurity business owner John Horst said the type of information reportedly accessed suggests the intrusion may have been limited to billing-related systems, rather than the technology used to run water operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, a billing system doesn\u2019t really come close. It\u2019s not that it doesn\u2019t open a pathway. It might open a pathway, but it\u2019s not the same thing as operational technology,\u201d Horst said.<\/p>\n

\"Iran-linked<\/p>\n

Iran-linked hackers claim breach of California water systems in Bakersfield, Visalia, Chico (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cTo get into a billing system is nowhere near enough to be able to get in and control and manipulate the operational technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Horst said there are potential risks if attackers can move from billing systems toward other connected systems. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut directionally, to go from the billing system to something like the GPS corrections server is going towards your operational technology, and that would be a concern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Horst also warned that access to personal billing information could increase the risk of identity theft and scams targeting customers.<\/p>\n

\"Iran-linked<\/p>\n

Iran-linked hackers claim breach of California water systems in Bakersfield, Visalia, Chico (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone who is a customer of Cal Water gets an email that purports to be from Cal Water, pay very close attention to it. Don\u2019t assume it\u2019s Cal Water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A reported cyber breach involving several California water systems has raised concerns about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-362781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}