CISA confirms hackers targeted over 100 US water systems during July
TechCrunch · 2026-08-26
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that hackers targeted over 100 US water systems during July 2026. These intrusions, primarily relying on AI tools to develop scripts for vulnerable Siemens PLCs, caused outages and disruptions but have had little effect on water supplies. CISA previously reported that some attacks modified PLCs to disable shutdown processes and alarms, potentially creating "unsafe conditions." Many affected communities are in rural or isolated areas, raising concerns about critical infrastructure resilience. US intelligence believes Iran is likely behind these largely opportunistic attacks, potentially in response to US and Israel-led actions, though concrete attribution has not been made. The full article also explores unrelated arrests of hackers in Australia.