Texas Towns Blame Russian Hackers for Cyberattack on Water Systems

Texas towns have linked cyberattacks that hit their water systems last January to supposed Russian "hacktivists."

US cybersecurity experts from Mandiant pointed to a Russian-based hacker group Sandworm, also known as FROZENBEATS, as those responsible for the attacks on the public utility systems.

According to officials of one of the three towns affected, hackers attempted to infiltrate their firewalls 37,000 times in just four days.

In another town, Muleshoe, hackers successfully caused the water systems to overflow and had to be manually turned off. A group heavily linked to Sandworm, CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, claimed responsibility for the January attacks.

Cybersecurity Experts: Cyberattacks Part of Russian Campaign

Experts pointed out the attacks as part of the group's campaign to target key "political, military, and economic hotspots for Russia" amid its ongoing war with Ukraine.

It can be remembered that the US imposed several sanctions on the country following its invasion of Crimea in 2022.

Since then, more cyberattacks have been linked to the nation across the US and other European countries. Many of the incidents were claimed to be backed by the Russian government.

The report and accusations were published just a few months after US President Joe Biden warned local governments to be ready for international cyberattacks on their public systems.

US Blames China, Russia for Cyberattacks on Financial Sectors, Public Systems

The accusations from Texas are only the latest report of US officials pointing to the Chinese and Russian governments as responsible for cyberattacks in the country.

The government earlier threw similar accusations against China for the attacks on several water and power systems across the country over the last year.

That was followed by several reports from US-partnered cybersecurity groups publishing analysis reports of nation-backed hackers using their technology to target major financial, health, and public utility sectors.

In response, both China and Russia also accused the US of increasing its surveillance on the two countries as tensions between the three flares.