Iranian cyber group targeting Israeli-made programmable logic controllers

Health care and other organizations that operate Unitronics Programmable Logic Controllers should protect the devices from potential compromise through default passwords, U.S. and Israeli agencies announced Dec. 2. An Iran-affiliated cyber group recently accessed several U.S. water and wastewater treatment facilities through these Israeli-made PLCs, which were publicly exposed to the internet with default passwords. The agencies advise organizations that operate these PLCs to disconnect them from the public-facing internet and replace all default passwords with strong passwords, among other actions. 

John Riggi, AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, said, “Although this geopolitically driven cyber threat appears to mainly target the water and wastewater systems sector, the alert notes that the PLCs may also be used in the health care sector. Therefore, it is advised that hospitals and health systems scan their networks for these potentially vulnerable PLCs, especially their facilities and building automation systems, and apply the recommended threat mitigation procedures.”

For more information on this or other cyber and risk issues, contact Riggi at jriggi@aha.org. For the latest cyber and risk resources and threat intelligence, visit aha.org/cybersecurity.