At least two New Jersey water systems were targeted in a cyberattack that affected utilities across seven states, the NBC10 Investigators have learned. Léelo en español aquí In a public service announcement released on Thursday, July 30, the FBI and EPA warned that hackers are targeting int ernet-connected industrial control devices used by water and wastewater utilities. The federal agencies said attackers gained remote access to vulnerable systems, degrading some water operations. The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell responded to the two incidents in the state, Chief Christopher Thoresen confirmed on Tuesday, Aug. 4. “The NJCCIC is working directly with the affected utilities alongside our federal partners at the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” Thoresen said in a statement. “The investigations found that the incidents involved vulnerable internet-exposed control systems, which temporarily limited operators’ ability to monitor or manage them remotely. In both cases, staff shifted quickly to manual operations, and there was no disruption to service. Customers had uninterrupted access to safe drinking water throughout.” The identities of the two affected utilities were not publicly disclosed as of Tuesday. In addition to New Jersey, attackers targeted utilities in Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia and Wisconsin, according to NBC News and NBC Chicago. Several water agencies in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania told the NBC10 Investigators they were not affected and that their systems are not connected to the internet. NBC10 investigative reporter David Charns can be reached at [email protected]. ...read more read less