DENVER — Foreign hackers breached two small Colorado water utilities last month, altering pumping cycles and disabling alarms, but treatment processes and water quality were not impacted — as far as the governor’s office knows.
The revelation by Gov. Jared Polis’ spokeswoman Ally Sullivan Tuesday came just a day after UCHealth officials announced someone “intentionally disrupted” the oxygen supply at Colorado’s largest hospital earlier this month.
Both incidents were quickly discovered and there was no impact to public safety, according to officials from both agencies.
Though Sullivan did not identify which two water utilities were impacted by this breach in late August, she said in a statement to Denver7 that the breach involved two “small, private providers” that serve fewer than 200 people.
During the breach, the hackers changed equipment settings, disabled remote access and alarms and altered pumping cycles at both utilities, Sullivan said.
“To our knowledge, treatment processes and water quality were not impacted at either provider,” Sullivan said.
She explained the incidents were brief and that providers took quick action by notifying the State of “outside attempts to cause interference” and worked to prevent any further breaching attempts.
Aurora
UCHealth says someone ‘intentionally disrupted’ its primary oxygen supply
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment followed up with each provider to confirm the issue had been resolved, offered technical assistance and reached out to other water providers and partners throughout the Colorado Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network to help prevent similar instances at other water utilities, Sullivan said.
“We cannot confirm what foreign actors may have been involved, but we are aware of ongoing efforts across the nation by an Iranian-backed group to access drinking water and wastewater systems, as per the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” Sullivan added.
The governor’s spokeswoman said heightened cybersecurity risks around drinking water and wastewater systems are not specific to Colorado, adding the State was actively monitoring national trends and threats.
She said the Colorado Information Analysis Center, which works to prevents acts of the terrorism at the state level, was working with the CDPHE on communicating with water utilities and providers to encourage them to double-check their security measures and make any necessary security updates.
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