"U.S. Government Sanctions Iranian Officials Over Pennsylvania Water Facility Hack"
The U.S. Treasury Department recently announced sanctions against a half dozen Iranian government officials for their role in targeting devices at a Pennsylvania water utility in November 2023. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC) targeted programmable logic controllers manufactured by Unitronics, an Israeli company, including one at a water utility in Aliquippa, PA, under the persona of "Cyber Av3ngers." The hackers posted a message to the screen of the device warning that "every equipment made in Israel is Cyber Av3ngers legal target." The Treasury noted that the incident did not cause any impact on the safety of the facility or drinking water in the area. John Hultquist, chief analyst with Google's Mandiant Intelligence, stated that the water sector "has been under enormous pressure lately from Russian, Iranian, and Chinese cyber actors who recognize it as a vulnerable critical infrastructure." He noted that we have to take the threats to water seriously, but can't forget that the adversary's primary goal is psychological.