Posted on 08/04/2026 4:49:38 AM PDT by Libloather
A notorious Iran-linked hacker group was likely behind the recent attacks on dozens of water systems across the US — and the shadowy cyber-soldiers may not be done with their assault, experts warned.
The self-proclaimed “Cyberav3ngers” group appeared to carry out the attacks which hit seven states in recent months, according to cybersecurity company Tenable, which told The Post the devious group began posting on the dark web about plans to hit the US within weeks of war breaking out with Iran.
“We listened or observed them kind of declaring that they were going to start targeting US Water infrastructure in in North America,” Tenable Public Sector Chief Technology Officer Chris Day said. “We started tracking activity back in April, right around the beginning of the Iran War.”
And the group has long-proclaimed itself to be closely tied to Iran’s brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also warning on July 22 that the Cyberav3ngers — and by proxy Iran — were likely targeting US systems.
Those attacks resulted in dozens of internet-connected water control systems — over 30 in Michigan alone — being taken over by hackers, who booted administrators and prevented water from being pumped into systems like water towers.
No significant disruptions or harm came from the attacks and order was quickly restored at all sites, but so far nobody has claimed credit for the attacks — which prompted experts to caution the assault may still be underway, especially since the Cyberav3ngers appeared to be the culprits.
“Usually they’re pretty vocal,” Day said. “But in the past we’ve seen them when they started making claims it’s usually after the operation, so that makes me wonder, this operation may not be over.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Smoke & mirrors.
If - ahem, ‘when’ - the mullahs & irgc fall, I expect much, much worse.
Friendly fire.
I’m sure attacks in Minnessotastan and Dearbornistan received no inside assistance.
Iranian hackers exploited unpatchable PLC flaw to breach 30 Minnesota water systems
This makes it sound as if the only solution is to take the controllers completely off the internet.
Don’t know the water treatment industry - but in electric power transmission the problem is all the embedded systems. So many vulnerabilities.
Why would a municipal water system be “hackable”? IOW, why is there a connection to the internet? Serious question. Why would the water system have outside computer access? I can’t think of any reason.
I remember after 9/11/01 some utilities posting guards around municipal water supplies fearing terroristic threats.
Idiotic that a system that can be easily maintained by a human turning valaves on and off is vulnerable to a freekin’ cyber attack as it is a needed element for existing...Seems to me that a patch/remedy must be around to stop and eliminate an electronic computer attack...I mean really?
Sounds to me like a spy network. We know the penalty, death.
Why ANY public utility is connected to the Internet to operate, instead of via an Intranet, is beyond me.
If it’s linked, it’s hackable. If NV Energy can shut my power off remotely, their power plant probably can be shut down as well as well. Just launch a rogue AI bot.......
lol hacking their allies in Minnesota 😂😂😂
Just thinking to myself. Self, why Minneapolis? Why would Trey target their own? Then it came to me, an inside job to cause chaos and further division cause you know they’re going to blame Republicans. Sabotage 101
They never should have been connected to the internet.
It’s not just Hollyweird that’s been beating that drum FOREVER (the central premise behind ‘Live Free or Die Hard’, i.e., vulnerability of connected government computers)...
Utilities should have remained local, not WWW.
The federal government announced last week that Iran WAS NOT involved in shutting down the water plant.
How in the world is a water plant connected, in any way, to the internet where such “attacks” can take place?
IF our FBI was worth a thimble of spit they’d find the guilty and hang them.
Course the F.B.I. is busy and the DOJ is crappola.
These are not your grandpas waterworks. Everything is computer monitored, controlled and continuously optimized/updated for peak savings.
Some of the best waterworks equipment/filtration is made in Europe/Israel and sometimes requires remote tech support from a handful of experts that cannot physically fly everywhere. They can change the control code and get real time feedback from the plant to optimize it anywhere on earth.
Remote control is also very convenient for operation/maintenance for many many reasons at a big plant. One man with a tablet can do the troubleshooting/maintenance alone that used to take several men with radios in the old days.
It is all potentially inconvenient for this one reason though- hacking. Security will need to continuously improve but I doubt internet control is ever going away
Anaheim was hit with a water pressure problem the other day. Makes one think, hmmm.
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