Two of the water systems that were recently targeted in a cyberattack are in Cape May County, New Jersey, officials confirmed Thursday.
On Thursday, Aug. 6, officials revealed that the City of Cape May Water and Sewer Department as well as the Borough of Woodbine Water Department recently identified and responded to a cybersecurity incident that impacted parts of their computer network.
Stream Philadelphia News for free, 24/7, wherever you are with NBC10.
Officials said both departments immediately activated their incident response procedures. They also began working with cybersecurity specialists, the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to investigate and contain the incident, according to officials.
Officials said the incident didn’t impact the safety or quality of the public drinking water in either area and that the water treatment, supply and monitoring systems continue to operate safely. Officials also said no personal information and customer data were accessed or compromised in either water system.
“We are taking every effort to protect and defend our water supply and production. We supply water to the City of Cape May, West Cape May, Lower Township, Cape May Point, and the United States’ only Coast Guard Training Center located in Cape May City,” said Cape May City Mayor Zachary Mullock. “We are working with state and federal agencies to ensure our water desalination plant is protected from any adversarial threat.”
Officials reported the incident to the New Jersey Governor’s Office, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Jeff Van Drew.
“Fortunately, Woodbine’s water system is constructed in such a way that any outside attempts at gaining access to the system are caught immediately and resolved just as quickly,” said Borough of Woodbine Mayor William Pikolycky. “Bad actors were only successful in interrupting our phone communication to the water system. This resulted in a few bad hours for the Borough of Woodbine Water Department personnel as they reactivated the system manually and consulted with the contractor, CISA, Homeland Security and the FBI. Once the information gathering was complete, the system was back online with no further issues.”
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
A hot, humid Friday with a threat of severe storms
North Philadelphia25 minutes ago
Police investigating after man killed in North Philly shooting
The news comes a week after the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that hackers had targeted internet-connected industrial control devices used by water and wastewater utilities.
The federal agencies said attackers gained remote access to vulnerable systems, degrading some water operations.
Then on Tuesday, Aug. 4, officials confirmed that the NJCCIC responded to two incidents in New Jersey though they didn’t reveal which water systems were targeted until Thursday.
In addition to New Jersey, attackers targeted utilities in Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia and Wisconsin
