The White House has issued an urgent appeal to all US state governors to prepare to cope with their water systems being attacked and taken down by Chinese cyber-attacks. Iran, which has honed its industrial espionage techniques via consistent attacks on Israel’s infrastructure, is also proving effective in taking down water facilities in the US.
The letter from the White House contains a stark warning that attacks on US water facilities are no longer a potential threat but an increasingly frequent event with real-world consequences. It was signed by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Jake Sullivan, and by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan.
“Disabling cyberattacks are striking water and wastewater systems throughout the United States. These attacks have the potential to disrupt the critical lifeline of clean and safe drinking water, as well as impose significant costs on affected communities,” says the White House.
Life-threatening attacks already happening
The life-threatening aspect of such attacks has already been experienced by countries such as Israel, who have been forced to defend themselves against potentially lethal cyber-attacks on their drinking and domestic water systems by Iran. Three years ago, for example, Iran is alleged to have begun an ongoing series of remote cyber-attacks on Israel’s water system, attempting to adjust the chemical levels of Israel’s entire drinking water supply to make it lethal to human beings.
At the time of the largely unanticipated first attack in April 2020, an unnamed official was quoted on Israel’s national television as saying: “This is an attack that goes against all the codes of war. Even from the Iranians, we didn’t expect something like this.”
The White House now reports that hackers affiliated with the Iranian Government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have already carried out malicious cyberattacks against US critical infrastructure, including drinking water systems. It also highlights China’s increasing aggression towards the US, even to the extent of using cyber-attacks to wage actual war.
“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber group known as Volt Typhoon has compromised information technology of multiple critical infrastructure systems, including drinking water, in the United States and its territories…Federal departments and agencies assess with high confidence that Volt Typhoon actors are pre-positioning themselves to disrupt critical infrastructure operations in the event of geopolitical tensions and/or military conflicts,” warns the White House.
This follows hard on the heels of an even starker warning at the end of last month by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the Munich Cyber Security Conference, the security version of Davos, regarding the threat to life and liberty in the US now posed by China’s ongoing cyber-war.
“Our adversaries have been improving exponentially,” warns Wray. “Chief among those adversaries is the Chinese government…the cyber threat posed by the Chinese government is massive,” warned FBI director Christopher Wray.
US President Joe Biden issues a stark warning
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden also strongly warned that the digital technology now being installed in imported Chinese cars can be used for cyber espionage and to facilitate attacks on critical infrastructure such as water treatment and power facilities. He also warned of the danger of industrial-scale data theft from US citizens.
“Most cars these days are ‘connected’ – they are like smartphones on wheels. These cars are connected to our phones, to navigation systems, to critical infrastructure, and to the companies that made them,” said the President. “Connected vehicles from China could collect sensitive data about our citizens and our infrastructure and send this data back to the People’s Republic of China.”
In a stark warning of the lethal consequences of cyber-war, in late 2023, the British nuclear facility Sellafield, formerly called Windscale, was allegedly hacked by groups linked to China and Russia. Disturbingly, it has emerged that breaches were detected as long ago as 2015, and it is likely that foreign hackers have already accessed the nuclear facility’s most confidential material.
The White House warning sent to US State Governors this week strongly advises companies managing critical infrastructure to strengthen their cybersecurity in a number of ways. But the growing proliferation of what are called “third-party” cyber-attacks, where suppliers and contractors are seen as a soft underbelly through which to attack the main target organization, means that now all kinds of businesses must also heed the White House’s warning.
As critical facilities, even nuclear power plants, are online 24/7 and routinely connected to thousands of suppliers, even companies whose business is not directly related to critical services must now also firm up their cybersecurity not only in their own commercial interests but also in those of US national security and defense.
