Rep. Turner says infrastructure should be "hardened" as U.S. probes water cyberattack

U.S. officials and sources familiar with the matter are investigating whether Iranian hackers are behind recent malicious cyber activity that disrupted water systems in at least seven states. The FBI confirmed the cyber activity last week, which compelled some water utilities to revert to manual operations.

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critical infrastructure assets "need to be hardened"

Republican Representative Mike Turner of Ohio emphasized the need to "harden" critical infrastructure assets. Speaking on "Face the Nation," Turner noted that Congress had not yet been briefed on the incidents. He highlighted Iran's history of attacking U.S. critical infrastructure, alongside reported hacking activities by China and Russia. Turner stated that adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran view civilian infrastructure, such as water systems, as legitimate military targets.

"These are things that we do not do, we would not do, and Iran certainly has been doing this well before this conflict, and this is something we certainly need to be aware of," Turner said. He added that given the ongoing conflict, a continuation of such attacks would be expected if Iran had been engaging in them previously.

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our adversaries, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, look at the critical infrastructure that support our civilian infrastructure, like water, ... as valid military targets

Meanwhile, President Trump expressed skepticism about Iranian involvement, instead pointing to Minnesota's state leadership. He described the state's leadership as "grossly incompetent" and, without offering evidence, suggested that Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, was responsible for the incidents in Minnesota, one of the affected states. The investigation is ongoing as authorities assess the extent and origin of the cyber threats.

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The administration could be sharing more with Congress