Tech · FBI · ArchiveU.S. Water Cyber Attacks Double in a Week; FBI Finds Altered Control LogicAired August 7, 2026 at 3:44 PM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00At least 12 US states now report cyber0:02attacks on their water systems, nearly0:04double the seven states reported just0:06last week. More than 30 community water0:08systems in Minnesota alone have been0:10affected. New Jersey and Georgia have0:12confirmed impacts, [music] and inside0:13those systems, the FBI made a disturbing0:16find, altered controller project files,0:18the programming engineers call ladder0:20logic, which governs physical operations0:22like chemical dosing, pump timing, and0:24pressure regulation. An intruder who0:26rewrites ladder logic is no longer just0:28looking around.0:29>> [music]0:29>> They are repositioning the machinery0:31that delivers drinking water to millions0:33of Americans. The ladder logic0:35essentially tells pumps when to run and0:37how much chlorine to add. When that code0:39changes, the water that reaches the tap0:41can change with it. And the FBI [music]0:43has not said which files were modified0:45or whether the changes were meant to0:46cause harm. Attribution [music]0:48remains unresolved. A group calling0:50itself the Cyber Avengers has claimed0:52[music] some of these attacks, but the0:53US government has not formally blamed0:55Iran or any other state. The reason is0:58[music] structural. Small water1:00utilities often lack the forensic1:01logging and network monitoring needed to1:03preserve evidence. [music]1:04High-confidence attribution requires1:06intelligence from the FBI and the1:08broader intelligence community,1:10resources not distributed evenly across1:12thousands [music] of American water1:14systems. If the government could see1:16inside roughly 8% of Volt Typhoon's1:18targets, the dozen-plus states now1:20reporting water attacks may be just the1:22beginning of what we know.1:23>> [music]1:23>> The gap between a hacker group's claim1:25and formal state attribution leaves1:27millions of Americans reliant [music] on1:29water systems that may have been1:30accessed without a clear answer on who1:32is behind it or what comes next.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗