Officials say they are investigating cyberattacks against municipal systems in Minnesota for possible links to Iranian groups.
Minnesota officials previously revealed that state water operations were targeted by cyberattacks on Sunday and Monday.
‘I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think Minnesota ought to get its act together.’
On Thursday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned water and wastewater operators that they could be similarly attacked.
CISA said there was a significant increase in the attacks on “programmable logic controllers” involving outside actors changing passwords and locking out the operators. The agency urged operators to remove the PLCs and other operational technology from the internet as soon as possible.
“This activity has resulted in boil water notices and sustained manual operations,” CISA said.
The CISA warning did not mention Iran or Minnesota, but U.S. officials told ABC News that investigators were trying to determine if the hostile regime was responsible for the cyberattacks.
The preliminary suspicion was first reported by the New York Times.
CISA recommended even the most rudimentary of digital security practices, including enabling password protections and changing default passwords.
President Donald Trump, when asked about the possibility of the attacks coming from Iran, blamed Minnesotan officials instead.
“I don’t think so. I think that Minnesota is behind it,” the president said to reporters. “You know who is behind it? Minnesota. Because they’re grossly incompetent. I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think Minnesota ought to get its act together.”
He went on to say there would be more revelations about corruption in Minnesota coming from his administration.
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“Cyberattacks against critical infrastructure require a coordinated, whole-of-government response,” said John Israel, Minnesota’s chief information security officer, in a statement.
“This incident demonstrates why Minnesota has invested in strong cybersecurity capabilities and partnerships” he added. “Our response worked as intended, enabling agencies at every level of government to rapidly coordinate, contain the incident, and help prevent more serious impacts to critical services.”
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