Iranian hackers suspected in cyberattack against over 30 Minnesota water systems - report

Jerusalem Post/Middle East/Iran NewsThe attack took place on Sunday and Monday, according to Minnesota IT Services, leading to a response from government and municipality agencies, but no instructions from affected cities.Follow us on GoogleGranite Falls, Minnesota - Water Tower. (photo credit: Tony Webster/ Wikimedia commons)ByTZVI JASPERJULY 31, 2026 11:50Iran is suspected of being behind a cyberattack targeting over 30 municipal water systems in Minnesota this week, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing unnamed US officials.The attack took place on Sunday and Monday, according to Minnesota IT Services, prompting a response from government and municipal agencies, but no instructions from affected cities for residents' drinking water use.Later that week, on Thursday, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that it had noticed "a significant increase in cyber threat actors targeting programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the Water and Wastewater Systems (WWS) Sector."Joe Slowik, director of threat research for Dataminr, told the Post that similar attacks have occurred in water and energy systems across the United States since the beginning of the war with Iran.“It is not a secret that these things have been taking place since the spring,” he said. “There have been disruptions in multiple critical infrastructure sectors. It’s a big deal.”hacking and technology concept (credit: INGIMAGE)Kurt Gaudette, head of intelligence for Dragos, noted that the cyberattacks had generally been against "very low-hanging fruit" - vulnerable systems such as small utilities which used default passwords and whose controllers were open to the internet.Iranian hackers aiming for psychological effects, not destructionIran's goal, Alex Orleans, head of threat intelligence at Sublime Security, told the Post, seemed to be the psychological effect rather than outright sabotage and destruction, with two main targets in their sights.The first target, Orleans said, was the American people, "to make us freak out and to turn sentiment against the war by making it look like it’s not worth the costs, when in reality our systems are pretty resilient."The second, Orleans claimed, was the Iranian regime itself. “They want to show their bosses that they’re contributing to the war effort.’'Follow us on Google