A Leaked Memo Ties Cyberattacks on Minnesota Water Utilities to Iran
Now, after an unprecedented wave of disruptive cyberattacks hit water utilities in Minnesota, a memo circulated within the water industry ties those...
Key points
- Now, after an unprecedented wave of disruptive cyberattacks hit water utilities in Minnesota, a memo circulated within the water industry ties those attacks to Iran, too, in the widest and most disruptive strike yet inflicted by the country’s hackers against the US since the war began.
- A communication obtained by WIRED on Thursday and sent to members of the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or WaterISAC, an industry group for water utilities to share cybersecurity information, links to Iran a series of cyberattacks that targeted dozens of Minnesota water and wastewater utilities.
- The WaterISAC note states that the Minnesota Fusion Center, a state-level intelligence-sharing entity, issued an alert “regarding ongoing malicious cyber activity impacting public drinking water systems across Minnesota” and adds that the fusion center has found that those attacks were “aligned” with a hacking campaign first described in April by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as having been carried out by “Iran-affiliated” hackers.
- Earlier this week, Minnesota state officials revealed that more than 30 municipal water and wastewater systems had been targeted in hacker breaches that had in some cases disabled telecommunications between the industrial control system technologies and water utility equipment.
What happened
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Now, after an unprecedented wave of disruptive cyberattacks hit water utilities in Minnesota, a memo circulated within the water industry ties those attacks to Iran, too, in the widest and most disruptive strike yet inflicted by the country’s hackers against the US since the war began. A communication obtained by WIRED on Thursday and sent to members of the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or WaterISAC, an industry group for water utilities to share cybersecurity information, links to Iran a series of cyberattacks that targeted dozens of Minnesota water and wastewater utilities. The WaterISAC note states that the Minnesota Fusion Center, a state-level intelligence-sharing entity, issued an alert “regarding ongoing malicious cyber activity impacting public drinking water systems across Minnesota” and adds that the fusion center has found that those attacks were “aligned” with a hacking campaign first described in April by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as having been carried out by “Iran-affiliated” hackers. Earlier this week, Minnesota state officials revealed that more than 30 municipal water and wastewater systems had been targeted...