US warns of Iran-affiliated cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure across country | Iran
Top government security agencies issued a warning Tuesday about Iran-linked cyberattacks on critical infrastructure across the United States. One joint statementMunicipalities, especially in the water and energy sectors, should be alert to unusual activity, the agencies said.
“Cyber attacks on drinking water and wastewater systems directly threaten public health and society resilience.” Jeffrey Hall, associate director of application and compliance assurance The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a statement. “A single violation could disrupt treatment or introduce contaminants, damage equipment and erode public trust.”
The notification did not provide detailed information about whether specific facilities were targeted or whether any damage occurred. Agencies issuing the joint advisory include the EPA, FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency, Department of Energy and U.S. Cyber Command.
The warning came after Donald Trump escalated his violent rhetoric against Iran. sending In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a post was shared on social media that if the Middle Eastern country did not submit to its demands, “a whole civilization will die tonight and will never be brought back.” He gave Iran until Tuesday evening to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which resulted in the president agreeing to a two-week ceasefire on the condition that the strait be “FULLY, IMMEDIATELY AND SAFELY OPENED.”
Iran has been accused of launching cyber attacks on various countries for years; these include a major power outage in Türkiye in 2015 and possible breaches of Israeli government websites in 2022. The United States has alleged that an Iran-linked group known as “CyberAv3ngers” is waging a campaign against it in 2023 that saw at least 75 devices compromised across multiple infrastructure sectors.
Iran has also accused the United States and Israel of launching various cyberattacks against it, including against nuclear centrifuges and weapons systems.
Tuesday’s advisory claimed the hackers were backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It was stated that the attacks focused on a widely used device called “programmable logic controller”, produced specifically by the Rockwell Automation company. The name of Siemens, which also produces these devices, was not mentioned.
Government agencies have urged municipalities using these devices to ensure they are not connected to the internet.
