2 municipal water facilities report falling to hackers in separate breaches

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2 years ago

November 30, 2023

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SOMETHING IN THE WATER — 2 municipal water facilities report falling to hackers in separate breaches The facilities in Pennsylvania and Texas serve more than 2 million residents.

Dan Goodin – Nov 30, 2023 12:42 am UTC EnlargeGetty Images reader comments 18 with

In the stretch of a few days, two municipal water facilities that serve more than 2 million residents in parts of Pennsylvania and Texas have reported network security breaches that have hamstrung parts of their business or operational processes.

In response to one of the attacks, the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa in western Pennsylvania temporarily shut down a pump providing drinking water from the facilitys treatment plant to the townships of Raccoon and Potter, according to reporting by the Beaver Countian. A photo the Water Authority provided to news outlets showed the front panel of a programmable logic controllera toaster-sized box often abbreviated as PLC thats used to automate physical processes inside of industrial settingsthat displayed an anti-Israeli message. The PLC bore the logo of the manufacturer Unitronics. A sign above it read Primary PLC. WWS facilities in the crosshairs

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Administration on Tuesday published an advisory that warned of recent attacks compromising Unitronics PLCs used in Water and Wastewater Systems, which are often abbreviated as WWSes. Although the notice didnt identify any facilities by name, the account of one hack was almost identical to the one that occurred inside the Aliquippa facility.

Cyber threat actors are targeting PLCs associated with WWS facilities, including an identified Unitronics PLC, at a US water facility, CISA officials wrote. In response, the affected municipalitys water authority immediately took the system offline and switched to manual operationsthere is no known risk to the municipalitys drinking water or water supply.

Water Authority officials told reporters the hacked PLC regulates pressure to elevated regions and was housed in whats known as a booster station that served Raccoon and Potter. As soon as the PLC was hacked, the booster station sent an alarm to operators who then took the system offline and took manual control. They said there was never a threat to the availability of water to the 6,615 customers the facility serves. Advertisement

A second hack hitting the North Texas Municipal Water District came to light on Monday after a ransomware group tracked as DAIXIN added the district, abbreviated as NTMWD, to its leak site. The post said the group has stolen sensitive data contained in 33,844 files. A text file that accompanied the post showed what appeared to be an extensive file directory tree of the network belonging to the NTMWD. Enlarge / A partial screenshot of a text file left on the DAIXIN website listing some of the files stolen.

The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) recently detected a cybersecurity incident affecting our business computer network, an official wrote in an email. Most of our business network has been restored. Our core water, wastewater, and solid waste services to our Member Cities and Customers have not been impacted by this incident, and we continue to provide those services as usual. The official went on to say that phone systems remained offline. The district has engaged third-party forensic investigators to probe the extent of the breach.

While the network intrusion didnt come to light until Monday, NTMWD first notified residents of a phone outage on November 12. The official didnt say when the breach occurred. NTMWD serves 2.2 million people across 2,200 square miles.

DAIXIN was first spotted in June 2022. The group, which has been actively tracked by both CISA and the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center, has successfully targeted a wide range of industries including health care, aerospace, automotive, and packaged foods.

Less is known about Cyber Aveng3rs, the group claiming responsibility for the hack on the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa. It may be the same group known as Cyber Av3ngers or connected to Cyber Av3ngers, which has ties to a group Microsoft has linked to the Iranian-government-backed Moses group.

Its tempting to think that the hacks of two different water facilities coming to light within a few days signals an escalation. Its easier to bear in mind that water facilities are notoriously underfunded and employ IT staff who receive little training and resources and are underpaid. Either way, the attacks should serve as a wake up call to political leaders at every level of government that critical infrastructure is vulnerable to hacking and will remain that way until they make the necessary investments. reader comments 18 with Dan Goodin Dan Goodin is Senior Security Editor at Ars Technica, where he oversees coverage of malware, computer espionage, botnets, hardware hacking, encryption, and passwords. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and following the independent music scene. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

Politics

Kemi Badenoch refuses to say Tories aiming to win local elections in May

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2 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch refuses to say Tories aiming to win local elections in May

Kemi Badenoch has refused to say that the Conservatives are intending to win next May’s local elections, despite being repeatedly pushed on the issue.

Asked twice to define success for her party at the elections, the Tory leader merely said that she is “going to be fighting for every vote”.

Speaking to Sky News, she added: “Success is going to be people seeing the Conservative Party as the only party that is competent and credible enough to do the tough stuff that this country needs.”

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The comments come as the Conservatives continue to trail in the polls.

New data released by YouGov this morning has put the Tories in third place behind Reform and Labour, a space they have largely occupied throughout the year. The pollster’s weekly voting intention analysis put Ms Badenoch’s party on 18%, down one percentage point.

Ms Badenoch gave a speech on welfare costs in London on Tuesday, where she attacked the government’s plans to tackle child poverty. Afterwards, she sat down with Sky News political correspondent Sam Coates.

Asked about the local elections, she said: “There are going to be local elections all over the country, and there’s a conservative message that I want everyone to hear: Our country’s not working properly.

“There are fundamental things that need to change. We need to create jobs. Otherwise, we’re not going to have money for councils.”

She added: “We’ve seen new parties like Reform come in. They’re making a hash of things at council level. We need to make sure that people can see the benefits of voting Conservative.”

When it was pointed out that she had not defined success as winning the local elections, Ms Badenoch said: “The country is going to decide. We’re going to put out an offer, and we’re going to fight for every vote.”

May will see local council elections, as well as votes for the Senedd in Wales and the Scottish Parliament. They are seen as a crucial moment for the Tory leader – and also for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms Badenoch also refused to score the party’s performance out of 10, as the year draws to a close, and she marks a little over 12 months as leader.

She told Sky News: “When I look at the historic defeats which Conservatives suffered last year, things are definitely better.”

Challenged on the Tories’ position in the polls, Ms Badenoch said: “Of course, we have a mountain to climb.

“We lost more seats [in 2024] than we’ve ever done in our 200-year history. This was always going to be a long road ahead.”

UK

‘Stakeknife’ spy inside IRA committed ‘worst possible’ crimes and should be named, says report

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2 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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'Stakeknife' spy inside IRA committed 'worst possible' crimes and should be named, says report

A new report into the activities of the top British spy inside the IRA during The Troubles has said that he “committed crimes of the worst possible kind”, including torture and murder, and should be publicly named by the UK government.

It’s widely accepted that the late republican Freddie Scappaticci was the agent, codenamed “Stakeknife”.

He headed the IRA‘s so-called “nutting squad”, a notorious internal security unit tasked with hunting and executing informants, but was himself operating as a mole for British intelligence.

The final report of a seven-year investigation named Operation Kenova has found that “there is a compelling ethical case” to reveal the agent’s identity.

Operation Kenova live: ‘Stakeknife’ spy inside IRA committed ‘worst possible’ crimes

Head of Kenova Sir Iain Livingstone said that “it is in the public interest that Stakeknife is named”. He urged the government to depart from its “neither confirm nor deny” (NCND) policy on the grounds of public interest.

It’s understood that the government believes Stakeknife cannot be officially named at this time due to some outstanding legal issues. Sky News has approached No 10 Downing Street for comment.

Freddie Scappaticci died two years ago denying that he was the agent, but all sides in Northern Ireland accept his denial was false.

The report also found a “significant failure” by MI5 in its late provision of materials to the investigation. “The further material revealed MI5 had earlier and greater knowledge of the agent than previously stated,” the report says.

Sir Ian Livingstone added that “further investigative opportunities were undoubtedly lost”, and that the confidence of the communities in Northern Ireland was undermined. Sky News has approached the security agency for comment.

Stakeknife produced a “vast” amount of intelligence. 3,517 reports from the agent were discovered, including 377 from one 18-month period. But the report found the intelligence was not shared with those who could have used it to save lives.

Analysis: Report exposes failure upon failure, decade after decade

He was the most notorious spy of the Troubles. A vicious spy-catcher who was a traitor himself.

Today’s final report into the activities of “Stakeknife” will continue to gall the victims of the IRA’s brutal internal system of “justice”.

We were familiar with many of its findings from last year’s interim report.

We knew Stakeknife’s record in saving lives – the necessary evil school of thought – was greatly exaggerated, and he actually cost more lives than he saved.

We knew his British security forces handlers failed to use intelligence to save lives, in order to protect their “golden egg” from exposure.

We didn’t know their special unit was called “the rat hole”, or that the agent’s betrayal was effectively carried out for financial reward… details that make the whole episode seem even more sordid.

Relatives of those he helped to murder will be disgusted at revelations that his handlers twice took him on holiday out of Northern Ireland – even flying him on military aircraft – at a time when the police were hunting him for murder.

Even now, after an exhaustive inquiry into his activities, Operation Kenova finds that MI5 are responsible for “a significant failure” in the late discovery of important material – costing the team investigative opportunities.

Failure upon failure, decade after decade.

The time for official silence over the spy’s identity must be over.

The dogs on the street in West Belfast know it was Freddie Scappaticci.

Kenova wants the prime minister to authorise his official naming. With no prosecutions in the offing, and Scappaticci in his grave, it may at least bring some succour to the victims’ families today.

Their loved ones were deemed traitors at the height of a dirty war. Tortured, shot in the head, and dumped.

Funerals were low-key, stigma-bound affairs, often taking place early in the morning, with few attendees. Shame hung over these republican families for years.

The man responsible fled Northern Ireland and died in hiding.

Today’s report contains few shocks, but similarly little comfort for the victims of the nutting squad.

Last year, Operation Kenova’s interim report found the security forces were frequently aware of imminent abductions and murders but failed to protect those at risk.

Today’s report found his army handlers even took Stakeknife out of Northern Ireland for two holidays, at a time when he was sought by police for murder and kidnapping. He was flown on military aircraft and given military ID.

As a result, preventable deaths occurred with the security forces’ knowledge and those responsible were not brought to justice and were instead left free to reoffend.

‘Wholly unjustified criminality’

The 2024 report also concluded that Stakeknife was involved in “very serious and wholly unjustifiable criminality”, including murder, and claims his intelligence saved “countless” or “hundreds” of lives were exaggerated. It found that the number of lives saved by his spying ranged from the high single figures to low double figures.

This contradicted claims that Scappaticci had saved hundreds of lives during the years he was active, with a former defence chief describing him as “the goose that laid the golden eggs”. The interim report found that claim to be “inherently implausible” and “a comparison rooted in fables and fairy tales”.

The 2024 report also called on the UK government to apologise to bereaved families, given that many murders were avoidable.

‘Each evil act being the epitome of cowardice’

There was also a call for an apology from republican leaders for “the most shameful and evil” actions of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). “It was PIRA that committed the brutal acts of torture and murder, each evil act being the epitome of cowardice,” the report stated.

No prosecutions connected with Stakeknife will take place, prosecutors in Northern Ireland have already decided.

Families of IRA victims associated with Stakeknife will give their response to the Kenova report in a news conference later today.

They want Scappaticci to be officially named, and many are seeking an apology from the British government.

UK

Steven Hutton: Three men and one woman jailed over ‘frenzied’ Dundee murder

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2 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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Steven Hutton: Three men and one woman jailed over 'frenzied' Dundee murder

Three men and a woman have been jailed for at least 20 years for the brutal murder of a much-loved son.

Steven Hutton, 43, was hit with a hammer and stabbed in the heart during a late-night home invasion at his flat in Dundee in March 2024.

He was taken to the city’s Ninewells Hospital, but died the following day.

Brian Miller, 29, Scott Henderson, 40, Barry Murray, 45, and Carri Stewart, 44, were on Monday found guilty of murder following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The killers were each handed a life sentence, and will spend at least two decades behind bars.

In her sentencing statement, Judge Lady Haldane said the evidence provided a “compelling picture of a plan to inflict serious violence upon Mr Hutton in his own home”.

The judge described it as a “frenzied assault”, which in part was sparked due to a “missing packet of Pregabalin medication”.

‘Callous’ behaviour

Lady Haldane stated: “Steven Hutton lost his life in these horrific circumstances, compounded by the fact that not one of you sought to seek assistance for him as he lay dying until you were all well clear of the property.

“That is behaviour that can only be described as callous.”

The judge paid tribute to Mr Hutton’s family and friends.

She added: “Those close to Mr Hutton, in particular his mother, have attended faithfully every day of this trial, and their quiet dignity throughout what must have been at times harrowing and distressing evidence stands in stark contrast to your behaviour.

“Mrs Hutton has in addition provided a detailed and moving account of her relationship with Mr Hutton, her only son, and the impact his loss has had upon her.

“I thank her for taking the time to prepare this thoughtful document, and I have taken all that she has said into account.”

Detective Inspector Richard Baird said the killers “now face the consequences of their actions”.

He added: “This was an unprovoked attack that cost Steven Hutton his life. We hope this conviction brings some form of comfort to Steven’s family.”