Tel Aviv: A new report released over the weekend warns that Iranian terrorist groups are engaged in acts of cyberterrorism against industrial controllers in various countries, including in waters off the United States.
The report was jointly compiled by Israel’s National Cyber Security Agency and US cyber defense bodies, including CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), FBI, NSA and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
However, Israel’s government stressed that it has not yet seen any recent attacks that have succeeded in disrupting water regulators in Israel.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has been designated a terrorist organization since 2019, operates an attack group calling itself the “Cyber Avengers,” reports said, which were recently discovered by the firm. Industrial controllers made in Israel were seen trying to cause damage. Unitronics.
These controllers are widely used around the world to combat industrial companies in the fields of water, energy, food and health.
The report details the methods and tactics the group described as “sophisticated” to break into or attempt to break into these controllers, as well as ways to protect against them.
The warning comes against the backdrop of this type of attack being detected across the US starting on November 22 this year.
Various cybersecurity agencies call on all organizations using these types of products to implement the protections and attack identifiers detailed in the report as soon as possible.
Among the recommended actions for security: implementing attack identifiers, changing the controller’s default password, implementing multi-step authentication, implementing a firewall, setting up backups, and more.
Recently in the US, they identified activity by the “Cyber Avengers” group against local water and sewage facilities in various US states that use Unitronics technology.