- U.S. officials have traced cyberattacks on 30 Minnesota water systems to likely Iranian sources amid ongoing tensions.
- Plymouth officials reported that water infrastructure communications had been restored by Tuesday afternoon after a cyberattack.
U.S. authorities are investigating a significant cyberattack that impacted more than 30 water systems across Minnesota, with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency attributing the attack to Iranian hackers.
The advisory from federal agencies highlighted that these hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems, as well as operational controls in critical infrastructure sectors.
Cynthia Kaiser, a former deputy assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, noted that Iran possesses the "geopolitical motivations" and a history of targeting such systems.
In the city of Braham, officials requested residents to minimize water use for a few hours on Monday while they investigated the cause of the water plant's offline status. They later confirmed that the outage was due to a cyberattack, but assured that there were no issues with water quality.
Meanwhile, in Plymouth, officials announced via social media that communications related to water infrastructure had been restored by Tuesday afternoon following the cyber incident.2
This incident underscores the ongoing vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and the potential for foreign adversaries to exploit them, raising concerns about national security and public safety.
“Plymouth officials confirmed that water infrastructure communications were restored by Tuesday afternoon following the cyberattack. This incident is part of a broader investigation into cyberattacks affecting 30 water systems across Minnesota, raising concerns about national security.”
