Hackers interfered with two water supply systems in Colorado — Jerusalem Post
In the US state of Colorado, hackers interfered with the operations of two private water supply utilities at the end of August and changed their equipment settings. Each of them serves fewer than 200 people. As The Jerusalem Post reports, according to the office of Governor Jared Polis, the incidents did not affect public safety or the provision of water services.
Changes to equipment settings
Colorado Governor's spokesperson Ally Sullivan said that the attackers changed equipment parameters. In particular, they disabled remote access and alarms and changed pumping cycles.
According to her, the incidents were short-lived, and utility operators promptly mitigated the risks and later notified state authorities. As far as the governor's administration knows, water treatment processes and water quality at both facilities were not affected.
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Possible link to previous attacks
The governor's office could not confirm which foreign actors may have been involved in the incidents. At the same time, it said it was aware of nationwide attempts by an Iran-backed group to gain access to drinking water and wastewater treatment systems.
The incidents in Colorado occurred several weeks after a series of cyberattacks on equipment at local water systems in about a dozen US states. According to an August 21 alert by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, they affected about 100 water utilities.
Cybersecurity experts had previously pointed to similarities between these attacks and Iran-linked hacking activity targeting programmable logic controllers in critical infrastructure. On July 30, the FBI reported that in previous cases, attackers changed IP addresses, turned on equipment, and set passwords, causing operators to lose visibility over connected devices and sometimes the ability to control them.
