America’s largest water utility hit by cyberattack at time of rising threats against U.S. infrastructure
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American Water, the largest water utility in the U.S., disclosed that it had been hit by a cyberattack.
The Camden, New Jersey-based company said in a security statement on its website that it had learned of “unauthorized activity in our computer networks and systems” last Thursday, which it determined “to be the result of a cybersecurity incident.”
The company said on Tuesday that it shut down its customer service portal, and as a result, its billing function “until further notice” and will not charge any late fees or other fees related to billing as long as the system is down.
Some recent hacks of major U.S. companies have brought key online systems to a halt and created chaos for consumers and businesses, such as the hack of UnitedHealth which led to nationwide difficulty among patients needs prescriptions filled and health-care professionals needing to be paid for services.
Hacks targeting U.S. water infrastructure, in particular, have been increasing, with some of the attacks linked to geopolitical rivals of the U.S., including Iran, Russia and China.
Taking out critical national infrastructure has become a top priority for foreign-linked cybercriminals. “All drinking water and wastewater systems are at risk — large and small, urban and rural,” an EPA spokesman recently told CNBC.
American Water provides drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people with regulated operations in 14 states and on 18 military installations.
One recent Russian-linked hack in January of a water filtration plant in a small Texas town, Muleshoe was located near a U.S. Air Force base. “Water is among the least mature in terms of security,” Adam Isles, head of cybersecurity practice for Chertoff Group, recently told CNBC.
The FBI warned Congress in February that Chinese hackers had penetrated deeply into United States’ cyber infrastructure in an attempt to cause damage, targeting water treatment plans, the electrical grid, transportation systems and other critical infrastructure.
America Water said it remains early in the investigation and “currently believes” that no water or wastewater facilities or operations have been impacted and water remains safe to drink.
Law enforcement and third-party cybersecurity experts are now involved, the company said.
American Water did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
The rising cybercrime wave targeting key water infrastructure led the Environmental Protection Agency to issue an enforcement alert warning that 70% of water systems it inspected do not fully comply with requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act. Without quantifying an exact number, the EPA said some have “alarming cybersecurity vulnerabilities” — default passwords that have not been updated, vulnerable single login setups and former employees who retained systems access.
American Water said it first learned of the unauthorized computer access on October 3, and was subsequently able to determine it was a cyberattack. It said turning off customer systems was intended to protect data, though it added that it is too soon to know whether any customer information is at risk.
An American Water spokesman declined to comment beyond the official security statement.
Technology
OpenAI to launch ChatGPT for teens with parental controls as company faces scrutiny over safety
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman walks on the day of a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
OpenAI on Tuesday announced it will launch a dedicated ChatGPT experience with parental controls for users under 18 years old as the artificial intelligence company works to enhance safety protections for teenagers.
When OpenAI identifies that a user is a minor, they will automatically be directed to an age-appropriate ChatGPT experience that blocks graphic and sexual content and can involve law enforcement in rare cases of acute distress, the company said.
OpenAI is also developing a technology to better predict a user’s age, but ChatGPT will default to the under-18 experience if there is uncertainty or incomplete information.
The startup’s safety updates come after the Federal Trade Commission recently launched an inquiry into several tech companies, including OpenAI, over how AI chatbots like ChatGPT potentially negatively affect children and teenagers.
The agency said it wants to understand what steps these companies have taken to “evaluate the safety of these chatbots when acting as companions,” according to a release.
OpenAI also shared how ChatGPT will handle “sensitive situations” last month after a lawsuit from a family blamed the chatbot for their teenage son’s death by suicide.
“We prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens; this is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
In August, OpenAI said it would release parental controls to help them understand and shape how their teens are using ChatGPT. OpenAI shared more details about those parental controls on Tuesday, and it said they will be available at the end of the month.
The company’s upcoming controls will allow parents to link their ChatGPT account with their teen’s via email, set blackout hours for when their teen can’t use the chatbot, manage which features to disable, guide how the chatbot responds and receive notifications if the teen is in acute distress.
ChatGPT is intended for users who are ages 13 and up, OpenAI said.
“These are difficult decisions, but after talking with experts, this is what we think is best and want to be transparent in our intentions,” Altman wrote.
If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor
WATCH: FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions
Technology
TikTok deal to include new investors with ByteDance; Oracle to keep cloud agreement, sources say
Cheng Xin | Getty Images
The framework agreement for the social media platform TikTok will include new investors as well as existing investors in the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.
The deal is expected to close in the next 30 to 45 days, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because the details of the negotiations are confidential. As part of the agreement, Oracle will keep its cloud deal with the platform, the people said.
“Where this thing is capitalized and how large it is remains to be seen,” Faber said during CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday. “‘I’m hearing it’s actually going to be relatively small in terms of the actual size of the checks that are written for the entity itself, and it will not be something that is going to go public at some point.”
The White House, TikTok and Oracle did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
TikTok’s future in the U.S. has been uncertain since 2024, when Congress passed a bill that would ban the platform unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divested from it. Lawmakers had grown concerned that the Chinese government could access sensitive data from American users or manipulate content on the platform.
Deal talks have dragged, with President Donald Trump extending the deadline three times since taking office in January.
The new details about the deal come after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the U.S. and China have reached a “framework” deal for TikTok.
Bessent said Tuesday that commercial terms had been in place since March or April, but the Chinese put it on hold after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff blitz.
Oracle has been floated as a potential investor or buyer of TikTok for months.
Reuters reported in January that the White House picked Oracle to handle TikTok’s data collection and software updates as part of a deal.
Trump has previously said he’d be open to Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison buying TikTok in the U.S.
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