PNN – Some water departments in the United States have been targeted by cyber-attacks in recent days due to the use of Israeli equipment.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the water department of the small city of Aliquipa, located in the state of Pennsylvania, can probably be called the smallest victim of a series of cyber-attacks on companies active in the field of water supply services in the United States. The agency has never had to rely on outside help to protect its systems from cyber-attacks.
The website of Fox News and other American media have reported that this department is one of the few organizations active in the field of water services in the United States that have been exposed to cyber-attacks in the past few days.
Federal officials in the United States have claimed that the attacks are being led by hackers linked to Iran, who are attacking a piece of equipment because it is made in Israel.
Matthew Motz, head of the department that manages water and sewer services for the 22,000 residents of Aliquipa, told Fox News: “If I were told to list 10 problems that could happen to your water department, this would never be one of them.”
After hacking a Unitrix device, hackers left a message saying, “Any equipment made in Israel is a legitimate target for cyber avengers.”
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The Associated Press news agency wrote that the hack of the “Aliquipa Municipal Water Authority” has prompted the issuance of new warnings by American security officials at a time when the state and federal governments are involved in numerous challenges to strengthen the systems of water service organizations against cyber-attacks.
American officials have said that the main risk in this field is that hackers may take control of automatic equipment and attempt to cut off drinking water supply pumps or contaminate drinking water. American officials have said that in addition to Iran, other hostile geopolitical rivals such as China are also considered a threat by the United States.
Some states are trying to strengthen security. However, experts have said that the main shortage in this field is money and expertise. This sector has more than 50,000 water offices, most of which are managed by local authorities, such as Aliquipa. Some of them are related to marginal places where residents have few facilities and experts in cyber security issues are rare.
The issue became critical for the US in 2021, when the main agency responsible for cyber-attacks in the US federal government reported that there had been five cyber-attacks on water utilities in the past two years.
In the case of Aliquipa administration, hackers managed to disable a remote control device that was responsible for monitoring and regulating the water pressure in a pumping station. Fox News claims that water customers were not affected because the organization’s employees quickly set the water pressure control to manual mode after receiving the warning. But the problem is that not all water service offices have a manual service support system.
American media have reported that several states, including New Jersey and Tennessee, have so far passed state laws to strengthen cyber security due to the inaction of Congress in this regard. Before 2021, the states of Indiana and Missouri passed similar laws. In 2021, California made the organizations responsible for cyber security responsible for developing plans to improve the state of cyber security in the agriculture and water sectors.
In several states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, the laws went nowhere.