INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Hackers working on behalf of the Iranian government are likely to target industrial control systems used at water treatment plants and other
critical infrastructure to retaliate against recent military strikes by Israel and the US, federal government agencies are warning
published by the The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, and the National
treatment plants, dams, and other critical infrastructure, particularly when those systems are manufactured by Israel-based companies
Between November 2023 and January 2024, near the onset of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, federal agencies said hackers affiliated
with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps actively targeted and compromised Israeli-made programmable-logic controllers and
human-machine interfaces used in multiple sectors, Including US Water and Wastewater Systems Facilities
At least 75 devices, including at least 34 in US-based water facilities, were compromised.Hackers in those operations targeted Unitronics
Vision Series devices that automate processes inside water facilities
After gaining control of the devices, the hackers interfered with their ability to function normally
The actors also introduced changes that prevented the devices from being remotely accessed by administrators
The hacked devices were either protected by default passwords or no password at all, making them easy targets.
