Hackers target Rapid City's wastewater system, officials say
The incident comes as US officials investigate a wave of cyberattacks targeting water and wastewater utilities in at least seven states.
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- Rapid City officials are investigating a cyberattack on a municipal wastewater lift station.
- The city said wastewater operations continued and drinking water was not affected.
- Rapid City is working with US cyber officials and says the attack is unrelated to Pennington County’s July 5 incident.
- The incident follows wider attacks on US water utilities, including 30 Minnesota facilities, believed linked to Iranian state hackers.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Officials in Rapid City, the second-most populous city in South Dakota, are investigating a cyberattack targeting a municipal lift station in its wastewater system.
The attack did not disrupt wastewater operations or affect the city's drinking water supply, officials said.
They added that the incident was quickly contained and measures were taken to protect the affected system.
Rapid City I.T. Director Jim Gilbert said that the existing security measures proved effective.
“We were then able to come to the conclusion that the measures that we have in place were adequate at that time to ensure the safety of the water, and we took additional measures as was pointed out by our partners,” Gilbert said.
Rapid City is working with the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to investigate the incident. So far, additional details about the attack remain undisclosed.
Gilbert confirmed that the incident is unrelated to the attack that disrupted Pennington County government computer network on July 5th.
“No, this has nothing to do with that,” he said. “The systems are completely different, and the type of attack or incident is completely different, so the coincidence is there to be sure, but they are unrelated.”
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Rapid City Public Works Director Mike Theis said the city takes regular measures to protect its water and wastewater infrastructure and will continue monitoring for cyber threats.
The incident comes as US authorities investigate a wave of cyberattacks targeting water and wastewater utilities in at least seven states, including 30 Minnesota water facilities hit last weekend. The campaign is believed to be linked to Iranian state hackers.
