US cyber agency alerts to rising attacks on water and wastewater facilities after Minnesota incidents

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said hackers are intensifying efforts to breach water and wastewater treatment facilities, focusing on programmable logic controllers and changing passwords to lock out operators. The agency noted that such intrusions have forced some utilities to issue boil-water advisories and to run systems manually.

CISA issued the alert after Minnesota's state IT agency reported that over 30 community water systems experienced a coordinated cyberattack earlier this week. The attacks on July 26 and 27 allowed remote monitoring and control of equipment, though not all communities suffered service disruptions.

John Israel, Minnesota's chief information security officer, said the state has shared relevant information with the federal government, which is assessing the activity in a national context and working to identify any responsible threat actors.

U.S. investigators are examining whether Iran may be involved, but CISA declined to confirm that link. The agency highlighted that the United States operates roughly 152,000 public drinking water systems and more than 16,000 wastewater treatment facilities, all of which remain vulnerable to cyber threats.