Hack Attack: Media Warns China, Russia And Iran Could Seriously Cripple US Water Systems

The following report is by CNBC:

• Cyberattacks on the country’s water systems could damage infrastructure, disrupt the availability or flow of water, and alter chemical levels, contaminating public drinking water supply.
• A recent string of attacks on water utilities included systems in Kansas, Texas and Pennsylvania.
• Taking out critical national infrastructure has become a top priority for foreign-linked cybercriminals. “All drinking water and wastewater systems are at risk — large and small, urban and rural,” an EPA spokesman said. 

The city of Wichita, Kansas, recently had an experience that’s become all too common — its water system was hacked. The cyberattack, which targeted water metering, billing and payment processing, followed the across the U.S. in recent years.

In going after America’s water, hackers aren’t doing anything special. Despite rising fears of AI use in cyber threats, the go-to criminal way into systems remains preying on human foibles, be it via phishing, social engineering, or a system still running on a default password — “old school” cyberattacks, according to Ryan Witt, vice president of cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.

The rising cybercrime wave targeting key infrastructure led the Environmental Protection Agency to issue an enforcement alert warning that 70% of water systems it inspected do not fully comply with requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act. Without quantifying an exact number, the EPA said some have “alarming cybersecurity vulnerabilities” — default passwords that have not been updated, vulnerable single login setups and former employees who retained systems access.

While the methods may be simple, an attack last year by an Iranian-backed activist group against 12 water utilities in the U.S. reinforced how purposeful “an attacker’s mindset” can be, according to Witt. The targeted utilities all contained equipment that was Israeli-made.

FBI, NSA, CISA All Express Concern

In February, the FBI warned Congress that Chinese hackers have burrowed deep into the United States’ cyber infrastructure in an attempt to cause damage, targeting water treatment plans, the electrical grid, transportation systems and other critical infrastructure. A Russian-linked hack in January of a water filtration plant in a small Texas town, Muleshoe — located near a U.S. Air Force base — caused a water tank to overflow. “Water is among the least mature in terms of security,” Adam Isles, head of cybersecurity practice for Chertoff Group, recently told CNBC.

SEE: Biden Administration Issues Cryptic Warning Over Cyberattacks Against Water Systems. Blames Iran And China

Psychological impact on the population is also a strategic aim, seen not only in targeting of water assets but the Colonial Pipeline hack that made national headlines in 2021, and in the words of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, featured “snaking lines of cars at gas stations across the eastern seaboard and panicked Americans filling bags with fuel, fearful of not being able to get to work or get their kids to school.” 

Attacks on U.S. water utilities’ IT systems can have a similar psychological impact, and even if the attacks don’t directly interfere with the operations of the utility, still lessen public trust in water supply. No hack to date has shut off the water to a population, but that’s the bigger worry, said Stuart Madnick, an MIT professor of engineering systems and co-founder of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan.

Meddling with a water supply through attacks targeting IT (informational technology), like Wichita’s system, is minor in comparison to a successful attack on the OT (operating technology) that controls water plants. That is a massive risk, Madnick said, and the threat of it happening is not zero.

We have demonstrated in our lab how operations, such as a water plant, could be shut down not just for hours or days, but for weeks. It is definitely technically possible.

He said.

A recent letter sent by EPA Administrator Michael Regan and national security advisor Jake Sullivan to the nations’ governors detailed the urgency of the threat. But Madnick is wary of the government’s ability to act quickly or robustly enough to prevent such an occurrence. Budgets, outdated infrastructure, and reluctance to move on an issue that may seem both vital and daunting suggest that the fixes may indeed not come quickly enough. “It has not happened yet, and serious action to prevent ‘likely’ will not happen, until after it has happened,” he said.

Outdated Water Utility Technology

Like any modern system, water utilities rely on technology for monitoring, for operations, and for customer communication. The technology creates vulnerabilities — for providers and users — so the need for enhanced security measures is acute. “The community risk from cyberattacks includes an attacker gaining control of the operations of a system to damage infrastructure, disrupt the availability or flow of water, or altering the chemical levels, which could allow untreated wastewater to be discharged into a waterway or contaminate drinking water provided to a community,” said an EPA spokesman.

Witt says there are some initial steps to take in improving the cyber hygiene of dated systems. “Improving password strength, reducing exposure to public-facing internet, and the need for cybersecurity awareness training,” would go a long way to shoring up defenses, he said. Another potential fix is the deployment of what are called air-gapped systems that separate supervisory and control systems from other networks. Since the easiest way into these systems is to obtain credentials and then exploit the system, “A systems admin should not be able to access office systems such as email and be able to operate a control panel of a water system from the same laptop,” Witt said.

For the most part, attacks that have occurred have been preventable, according to the EPA. “Systems were victimized by destructive and costly cyberattacks because they failed to adopt basic cyber resiliency practices,” the EPA spokesman said. “All drinking water and wastewater systems are at risk — large and small, urban and rural,” he said. 

While it has not been a tool needed to date in these water utility attacks, AI is coming alongside the concerted cyber efforts of geopolitical rivals. “Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are giving cyberthreat actors more sophisticated tactics, techniques, and procedures to penetrate operational technology that controls critical infrastructure facilities,” the EPA spokesman said. “These attacks have been linked to a variety of types of malicious actors, including hackers working on behalf of or in support of other nations who could use disruptions to U.S. critical infrastructure to their strategic advantage.”

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

I’ve covered a number of these predictive programming reports for over several years now, as we are constantly being warned in advance that a massive and debilitating cyberattack is coming, and most Americans will be caught napping; and because of their slumber the shock will be so grand they will be complicit in whatever the government and propaganda ministry tells them without a second guess…

In 2021 a number of other government bodies – CISA, NSA, FBI – had also issued a national security threat about cyberattacks disrupting food and water systems throughout the country.

Again, we must remind ourselves of the sobering warning that World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab said years ago, warning that a cyberattack on a massive scale will make the Covid plandemic look like child’s play, and peaches & cream.

Henceforth I again emphasize the need to have reserve food and water, protection, medical gear, etc., in the event this type of stuff eventually happens. Christians for a long time have been pampered and spoiled with all these luxuries, and then at the first sign of danger ahead you’ll get those people who quote passages from the sermon on the mount, or something like that (that does not doctrinally apply dispensationally in this age of grace preached under Paul’s ministry), and impress upon the idea that you don’t have to do anything at all and God will service your every whim. Friend, you can’t think like that. Yes, the Lord can and will provide and protect his saints who walk in fellowship with him (Colossians 2:6), but this notion that you should just do nothing, especially if you have a spouse and children, is bonkers (1 Corinthians 7:29-35; 1 Timothy 5:8).

Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.

The point is, you need to do what you can the best that you can, and let the Lord handle the rest.

Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Having said that, we see here again the media blaming this new ‘axis of evil’ on the potential for cyberattacks. This would act as a perfect false flag to justify massive expansion of world war…

SEE: False Flag Cyber Attack In 2024 Likely To Occur, As A Scapegoat For Collapsing Economy And Implementing Digital IDs

Be Ready For A False Flag Attack To Greatly Expand The West’s And East’s Involvement In The War With Israel And Hamas

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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