WANA (Jul 23) – Following a cyberattack by the hacking group “Handala” on Maryland’s Operational Technology (OT) infrastructure, the group issued a warning statement declaring that critical U.S. infrastructure is on the front lines of their future attacks.

 

Handala emphasized that tampering with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and SCADA systems is only part of the group’s offensive capabilities, and broader threats are facing water, electricity, and transportation networks.

 

This warning comes as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently acknowledged in a security advisory that cyber actors are targeting industrial equipment from Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, and Siemens.

In this statement, the FBI claimed that Handala is affiliated with Iran.

 

The FBI also updated a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory (JCSA), detailing new methods for identifying malicious changes in control code, and emphasized disconnecting direct access of this equipment from the internet and intensifying protective measures.

 

Prior to this, a Russian researcher had claimed that Handala infected Maryland’s water network in July.