“Disabling cyberattacks” are hitting critical US water systems, White House warns

The letter cited two recent hacking threats water utilities have faced from groups backed by hostile foreign countries. One incident occurred when hackers backed by the government of Iran disabled operations gear used in water facilities that still used a publicly known default administrator password. The letter didn’t name the facility by name, but details included in a linked advisory tied the hack to one that struck the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa in western Pennsylvania last November. In that case, the hackers compromised a programmable logic controller made by Unitronics and made the device screen display an anti-Israeli message. Utility officials responded by temporarily shutting down a pump that provided drinking water to local townships.