Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says
Source: CNN Politics
Published 6:07 AM EDT, Wed April 17, 2024
CNN A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday.
The hack in the small town of Muleshoe, in north Texas, coincided with at least two other towns in north Texas taking precautionary defensive measures after detecting suspicious cyber activity on their networks, town officials told CNN. The FBI has been investigating the hacking activity, one of the officials said.
The attack was a rare example of hackers using access to sensitive industrial equipment to disrupt regular operations at a US water facility, following a separate cyberattack last November on a Pennsylvania water plant that US officials blamed on Iran.
The cyber incidents in Texas also help explain a rare public appeal that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made last month to state officials and water authorities to shore up their cyber defenses. Cyberattacks are hitting water and wastewater systems throughout the United States and state governments and water facilities must improve their defenses against the threat, Sullivan said in a joint letter with the Environmental Protection Agency chief to state officials.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/politics/russia-hacking-group-suspected-texas-water-cyberattack/index.html
EYESORE 9001
(25,962 posts)I hope this shows MAGAts in Texas that poots Russia is not their friend.
Irish_Dem
(47,226 posts)And the GOP is fine with that because they are also at war with the US.
Their own country.
2naSalit
(86,743 posts)Been through there. I remember there was a deer carcass on the side of the road by the welcome to town sign, it had been there a while. Looked and felt like a ghost town.
LeftInTX
(25,490 posts)I wonder what happened?
Oh well, don't have enough time to dive down that rabbit hole!
sybylla
(8,522 posts)JFC. Been married to a software engineer involved in manufacturing systems and have offspring in similar environments. NEVER would any of them let their critical systems be anywhere near the internet.
We are apparently a country full of IT people who have never been taught the importance of segregating critical systems. Just because management asked for access from their desktop, doesn't mean they should get it. We need some fucking adults in charge.
Igel
(35,337 posts)You need to control something that provides water and it's 50 miles away. You can install special cable, getting rights of way, or you can use a common carrier like cable or phone lines. Or monitor equipment for a small town and you don't want to have 3-4 full timers on duty for each of 3 shifts because that would be expensive and crank up already expensive water bills.
Note that a lot of school districts in Houston and N Texas have been subject to hackers and cyberattacks. Yesterday and today was hard for two that I know of. Can't print, can't use the LMS, can use online resources. We have these nifty screens that synch with our computers--no projects, and we can write on what's projected and record it with audio. Very nifty, very handy. But when subject to DDOS or something more serious, nothing works.