NEW JERSEY — Two local water systems in New Jersey were hit by cyberattacks over the past week, incidents state officials said Wednesday are broadly suspected to be linked to Iran.
The utilities involved were not publicly identified, but officials said their automated systems were knocked offline temporarily, limiting visibility for operators. Both water systems quickly moved to manual procedures, and the state said customers never experienced a service interruption. The systems have since been secured with stronger access controls.
“Our New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) responded to two cyber incidents affecting New Jersey municipal water systems this past week. The NJCCIC is working directly with the affected utilities alongside our federal partners at the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” the state said Wednesday.
According to the state, investigators determined that the attacks targeted vulnerable control systems that were exposed to the internet. That temporarily reduced operators’ ability to monitor or control the systems remotely. In both cases, employees responded by switching to manual operations, keeping service intact and ensuring residents continued to have access to safe drinking water.
Sources told ABC News that Iran is still considered the leading suspect, raising concerns that the activity could be a signal of how Tehran might respond as President Donald Trump threatens to intensify the conflict.
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At the same time, officials are examining whether another foreign actor may be copying Iranian cyber tactics in an effort to shape or complicate the United States’ next move.
Similar cyber incidents have surfaced elsewhere. In Georgia, the Clayton County Water Authority briefly issued a boil-water advisory after being targeted by hackers. Columbus Water Works also reported detecting an intrusion, though officials said the drinking water supply was not affected.
The latest wave of cyberattacks on water and wastewater utilities, which has affected systems in at least a dozen states, took advantage of a flaw in widely used utility software, sources told ABC News.
A fix has been issued, but utilities across the country that run the same software are racing to see if they were also hacked.
So far, it appears nobody has become sick, and there have been no widespread disruptions to water supplies. However, officials are still working to understand the scope of the hack and what could have happened to systems Americans depend on every day.
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