Florida water agency impacted by cyberattack

Florida's St. Johns River Water Management District has disclosed a cyberattack impacting its technology environment during the past week, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. St. Johns River Water Management District was claimed to be compromised by a ransomware operation that leaked samples of stolen data but did not declare the extent of the breach. "The District is actively monitoring its IT networks to ensure there is no ongoing, malicious persistence. Accordingly, the District is continuing its normal business operations. Until our investigation is complete, we are unable to comment further," said an agency spokesperson. Such cyberattack confirmation follows a joint federal warning regarding ongoing attacks by Iran-linked hacking operation Cyber Av3ngers targeted at Unitronics programmable logic controllers, which has already impacted a Pennsylvanian water utility. "The compromise is centered around defacing the controllers user interface and may render the PLC inoperative. With this type of access, deeper device and network level accesses are available and could render additional, more profound cyber physical effects on processes and equipment," said the advisory.