A senior security official at the White House announced that the public disclosure of the Iranian regime’s role in the attack on US water facilities has deterred Iranian government hackers from continuing cyber-attacks on America.
In an interview with WIRED, Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology on the White House’s National Security Council, stated that despite Iranian hacker groups continuing their operations against other countries after that attack, their attacks on American infrastructure have ceased.
Neuberger emphasized that these conditions could change at any moment.
In another part of her remarks, she pointed out ongoing events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and cyber operations by Iran’s regime, highlighting that cyber-attacks are an integral part of international conflicts in today’s world.
In December 2023, a hacker group known as “Cyber Avengers” disrupted the water facilities in the city of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, causing disruptions to the water pressure stations. Following the confirmation of the Iranian origin of this cyber-attack by US federal agencies, it was reported that several states across the country were affected by the incident.
US officials simultaneously described the executed attacks as not sophisticated.
In these attacks, hackers successfully penetrated the victims’ networks by exploiting security vulnerabilities in default password settings on water control devices.
The Cyber Avengers continued their attacks, infiltrating water facilities in other countries, including Ireland, causing water disruptions in some regions worldwide.
In response to the Iranian hackers’ attack on the infrastructure of the Pennsylvania region, representatives from the state announced their efforts to create a special task force to counter cyber-attacks.
In mid-December 2023, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a statement urging technology product suppliers to stop producing products with default passwords. The US government has attributed the Cyber Avengers group to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
On February 2, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury added six individuals responsible for the mentioned cyber-attacks on the country’s infrastructure to its sanctions list.
