Federal authorities are investigating coordinated cyberattacks on water infrastructure across at least 12 states, with evidence pointing to Iranian Revolutionary Guard-linked hackers who gained remote access to critical systems controlling water pressure, pumps, and valves in American communities.

Widespread Infrastructure Breach Confirmed

The attacks impacted water systems in Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia, New Jersey, and South Dakota, among other states. In Minnesota alone, more than 30 community water systems experienced unauthorized access. The Clayton County Water Authority in Georgia, which serves 300,000 customers in the Atlanta area, suffered cyber activity that caused water pressure drops and forced officials to issue a boil water advisory last month. Service was restored within hours, but the incident exposed vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure serving hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Multiple utilities lost critical remote-control capabilities, forcing operators to abandon automated systems and switch to manual operations. The hackers successfully gained remote access to pumps, valves, and water pressure controls. Federal officials confirmed that while the attacks disrupted operations, drinking water remained safe throughout the incidents with no contamination reported.

Federal Warning Issued to Water Systems

On July 30, the FBI, Environmental Protection Agency, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint warning that cyber threat actors had remotely accessed online infrastructure for water and wastewater systems in at least seven states. The breach resulted in loss of monitoring and control functionality across multiple facilities. Water agencies received urgent guidance to disconnect their operating programs from the internet immediately and strengthen password protections and firewall defenses against further intrusion attempts.

Links to Iranian Revolutionary Guard

The attack tactics closely resemble a 2023 campaign by CyberAv3ngers, a hacking group directly linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. That group successfully infiltrated water system controllers by exploiting default passwords that operators failed to change. The pattern suggests a coordinated effort by Iranian-backed actors to probe American infrastructure defenses and demonstrate capability to disrupt essential services. The attacks raise serious questions about the security of critical infrastructure systems that millions of Americans depend on daily for safe drinking water and basic sanitation services.