Iran’s recent cyberattacks on water systems in the US and a power facility in the UK have exposed a troubling gap in critical infrastructure defenses — one Tehran is likely to keep probing, a cybersecurity expert told The Post.
Hackers tied to the Iranian regime targeted water facilities across 12 US states last month and, around the same period, forced a UK power plant offline for four days in what British officials confirmed Saturday was a first-of-its-kind attack.
Iran has used cyber operations against the US and its allies since the war began, but the latest breaches indicate the regime may have identified weaknesses it can repeatedly exploit, warned Annie Fixler, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“Iran is realizing it can be more successful in its cyber attacks,” said Fixler, who directs the FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.
“These new attacks tell us that they’re looking for our weaknesses… and they’ve realized how we’ve left certain facilities exposed faster than we have ourselves,” she added.
“This whole thing highlights how we’ve allowed ease of access to our critical infrastructure and forgotten that there are those who want to harm us.”
US officials have long tracked Iran’s cyber capabilities, and Tehran has often boasted about its successes after past hacking incidents.
This time, however, the regime has kept a lower profile during the war, with federal authorities and the affected facilities disclosing the intrusions instead, Fixler noted.
Back in April, the US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency warned that hackers backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were attempting to disrupt America’s water system after finding an opening in machines running the facilities.
Then a string of cyberattacks against water infrastructure hit at least 12 states in the US, with Minnesota officials accusing Iran of causing brief automated shutdowns and some boil-water notices.
A small-scale power generator was shut off for four days in the UK, The Telegraph reported. The exact location was not identified.
Fixler warned that the hackers are likely reaping praise from the regime over the successful attacks, incentivizing them to keep pushing and finding more systems to exploit.
