Minnesota IT Services said in a statement last week that at least 30 municipal water facilities were targeted July 26-27 and that it had “immediately activated the state's cybersecurity incident response capabilities.” Over the weekend, Michigan also reported cyberattacks on nine of its water systems.
The incidents also came days after federal agencies updated a warning about ongoing Iranian cyber threats targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, though investigators have not publicly linked the latest attacks to Tehran.
United States water systems are a part of critical infrastructure in the country, which makes them attractive targets for cyberattacks. The EPA has warned in recent years that a significant number of local water systems had critical or high-risk vulnerabilities, including “outdated software, poor network security, weak access controls, and a lack of employee cybersecurity training.”
“There is a lot of individual responsibility on the part of companies and local water systems and infrastructure and local municipalities and state governments,” he said.
In practice, this responsibility is split between local utility operators and federal oversight bodies, with funding coming from both federal allocations and municipal budgets, making cybersecurity upgrades difficult to coordinate.
But the impact of the latest round of attacks has been limited, according to state officials. The attacks primarily resulted in an interruption of service at the facilities, rather than putting Americans at risk by means such as exposing their drinking water to contamination.
Federal agencies are investigating who might be behind the latest attacks.
“Cybersecurity threats are a serious concern for our nation’s water infrastructure, including the communities, businesses, hospitals, schools, and other critical infrastructure sectors that rely on these critical lifeline services,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer said in an advisory released by CISA in April.
Could Iran be connected to the attacks?
The FBI, EPA and CISA put out a joint statement last week to accompany the advisory updates. It warned of “ongoing Iranian-affiliated cyber activity” targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, including “Water and Wastewater Systems, Energy and Government Services and Facilities, to include local municipalities.”
"If a hack like this can happen here in Western Pennsylvania, it can happen elsewhere in the United States," lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Attorney General.
They took place amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, marked by near-daily strikes and an ongoing standoff over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
"You know who's behind it? Minnesota. Because they're grossly incompetent,” Trump said during a televised Cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31. “I think the governor's behind it. I don't think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has repeatedly come under attack by Trump, fired back on social media, pointing out how the Trump Administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) “took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks.” In 2025, DOGE performed sweeping workforce reductions to the agency, which is responsible for coordinating civilian cybersecurity, leading to a loss of roughly one-third of its workforce.
“This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran,” Walz said.
And Parsi tells TIME that Iran is more than capable of fulfilling the threat.
The joint statement issued last week by federal agencies also underscored Iran's cyber capabilities. “Iranian cyber actors continue to target U.S. critical infrastructure,” said Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI’s Cyber Division. However, he added, “The FBI is committed to identifying, disrupting, and imposing costs on those responsible. Sharing timely, actionable intelligence is a critical part of that work.”
As investigators work to determine who was behind the attacks, federal officials have continued to point operators to the updated advisory for guidance on defending against future incidents. In the statement accompanying its release, Leatherman urged network defenders to use the recommendations to "identify malicious activity, strengthen their defenses, and reduce opportunities for Iranian cyber actors to disrupt the essential services Americans rely on."
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