Hackers with ties to Iran have been causing disturbances within systems linked to critical US infrastructure, following President Trump’s recent threats of a comprehensive military attack on Tehran. On Tuesday, US officials highlighted these cyber threats, which are believed to be supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an urgent warning to the private sector about these cyber attackers. The hackers are reportedly attempting to compromise systems integral to America’s water, energy, transportation, and communication networks.
CISA’s statement detailed that the group has specifically targeted devices across multiple crucial US infrastructure sectors. These include Government Services and Facilities, which encompass local municipalities, as well as Water and Wastewater Systems (WWS) and Energy Sectors.
American officials confirmed that the hackers have achieved some level of success. “This activity has led to disruptions across several US critical infrastructure sectors through malicious interactions,” the agency noted, though they refrained from specifying which systems have been affected so far.
The cyber attackers have allegedly focused on products from Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley, a prominent brand in US industrial automation, according to officials. This development underscores the potential threat to widely utilized technology within the nation’s critical infrastructure.
The cyberterrorists have allegedly targeted products made by Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley, one of the most widely used industrial automation brands in the US, officials said.
The attacks are aimed at the programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, that essentially act as the brain of the systems used in power and water plants.
The notice called on utilities and government agencies to make sure that none of their PLCs were connected to the Web, which could make them vulnerable to a cyberattack.
The warning from the CISA was echoed by the FBI, NSA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and US Cyber Command.
Iran-linked hackers have proven themselves successful at targeting the US during the war, with the Handala group aiming at Stryker, a Michigan-based medical equipment company, last month.
The logo of the Iran-linked hacking group was blasted across company login pages during the cyberattack, with Handala boasting that it had seized 50 terabytes of “critical data” from the medical giant, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The latest warning from cybersecurity officials was issued just hours before President Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to agree to his terms for a peace deal or face a widespread attack on its civilian infrastructure.
The president threatened Iran’s power plants and bridges, along with an ominous warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
Iran, which slammed Trump’s latest ultimatum, has warned of widespread retaliatory attacks against the US and Israel if the president makes good on his promise.
