Exclusive-Hack of water sector supplier draws FBI scrutiny as Iran-linked cyber concerns grow

On August 26, U.S. authorities were investigating a data breach at Micro-Comm, a Kansas-based company that manufactures programmable logic controllers (PLCs) for water utility technology. The breach was not directly linked to a suspected Iranian-affiliated campaign targeting water plants in Minnesota and other states beginning in July.

Barracuda, a relatively new ransomware group, claimed responsibility for the attack, posting nearly 850,000 company files on August 6, including roughly 644 gigabytes of data. Micro-Comm makes PLCs used in critical infrastructure networks, specifically for wastewater processing facilities. The breach highlighted the complexity of securing U.S. water systems and their vendors from increasing cyberattacks on embedded computer systems.

While the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had warned about potential threats to PLCs from various international manufacturers, Micro-Comm's breach was deemed an opportunistic attack rather than specifically targeting the company. Micro-Comm's systems were accessible from the internet, with approximately 200 of their SCADAview CSX systems in use across U.S. states.

The released files did not contain sensitive information such as passwords or credentials, but could potentially help hackers in the long term.