CISA warns of attacks on Unitronics tool used by water utilities, wastewater systems
November 29, 2023 – Published on The Record
The federal government is warning that hackers are targeting a specific tool used by water and wastewater systems after two utilities announced attacks this week.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it is responding to the active exploitation of Unitronics programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used by many organizations in the water sector.
CISA linked the advisory to a notice from the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) about an attack on a water utility in Pennsylvania announced on Monday.
The hackers — who said they are attacking water and energy facilities using products from Israel — forced the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa to take systems offline and switch to manual operations in order to remove any risk to the municipality’s water or water supply.
Christopher Warner, an operational technology cybersecurity expert with GuidePoint Security, explained that disruptive attacks targeting the integrity of these crucial processes can lead to significant repercussions, obstructing Water and Wastewater treatment facilities in their efforts to provide reliable access to clean, potable water, he said.
Warner noted that Unitronics PLCs “are deployed in automated parking systems, packaging and palletizing, energy production, agriculture, food, HVAC, dairy, chemical, wastewater, boiler industries, plastic extrusion, and other industrial sectors.”
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