US Infrastructure Cyberattacks Hit Water Facilities in 7 States
Federal authorities issue urgent warnings after coordinated nation-state cyberattacks compromise SCADA control networks at public water utilities across seven states.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI have issued a joint advisory following a series of sophisticated cyber intrusions targeting water treatment facilities across seven US states. Attackers gained access to legacy Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) via unpatched remote management interfaces.
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While water safety standards prevented physical contamination, operators in several districts were forced to switch to manual control modes after automated supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software was locked out by malicious payloads.
Federal officials are urging municipal utility operators to immediately isolate operational technology (OT) networks from public internet gateways and mandate multi-factor authentication for all remote administrative access.