Pro-Iran hackers are targeting US industrial control systems, advisory says

This latest cyber assessment released during the war with Iran mirrors similar cyber intrusions made by an Iran-aligned group that targeted Pennsylvania water systems in late 2023.

Iran-aligned hackers have exploited and disrupted operational technology control systems embedded in multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, targeting equipment manufactured by Rockwell Automation, according to an advisory issued Tuesday.

The hackers have set their sights on the company’s Allen-Bradley line of programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, which are digital computers that interface with operational equipment to monitor and automate industrial processes like water treatment, power generation and manufacturing.

The cyber intrusions have, in some cases, resulted in operational disruption and financial loss, according to the assessment signed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, NSA, EPA, the Department of Energy and U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force.

The disruptions occurred by manipulating data on human-machine interfaces and ...