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Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

nytimes.com

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Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#71

Post by nvme0n1p1 »

applicative wrote: post #65
nvme0n1p1 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And let's not forget: > Agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of consumptive use in the United States https://www.nifa.usda.gov/topics/water Maybe if we're worried about running out of water, we should prioritize getting the water we do have to actual people. Could the problem be that we're trying to grow avocados in a literal desert? Nah, it's the dang citizens taking too many showers again.

[flagged]

I'm not sure what Peru has to do with anything. TFA is about the USA, and usda.gov is an American site.

But I bet if the average ancient Peruvian had to choose between their avocados dying or their next-door neighbors dying, they'd choose to save their neighbors. Unfortunately in modern times, I'm not so sure anymore.

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#72

Post by garciasn »

zahlman wrote: post #45
garciasn wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blacks. Homosexuals. Communists. Islamics. Hispanics. Liberals. Intellectuals. There’s always an other. That’s what the Republicans have been doing for decades.

> There’s always an other. That’s what the [group I definitely don't belong to] have been doing for decades. Please reconsider your logic. And: > Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity.

[flagged]

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#73

Post by mindslight »

mikewarot wrote: post #59

>state and local officials throughout the country were on high alert for potential problems in vulnerable computers that are commonly used to monitor and adjust water quality, including chemical-treatment levels and water pressure. You don't need a full bidirectional internet connection for remote monitoring, and data diodes are a relatively cheap way to monitor them in complete safety. Completely stopping ingress of…

Please expound upon this "data diodes are a relatively cheap way to monitor them in complete safety". I'm familiar with the concept, but do not know they are in widespread use, and off-the-shelfish enough to be considered "cheap". To me, the fundamental problem is that our protocol stacks are all built on an assumption of bidirectional interaction, making "data diodes" require bespoke engineering to define the correct data structures of a type that can be thrown over a wall. Like sure it's easy to cut one ethernet pair, or one serial line wire, but building up a software stack that can use that for one-way communication still seems like a hassle.

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#74

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

28 Jul 2026 22:47:42 UTC

Coordinated cyberattack disrupts water utilities in 30 Minnesota communities

https://statescoop.com/coordinated-cyberattack-disrupts-wate...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49091021

[ok]

29 Jul 2026 07:47:11 UTC

Cyberattack targeted 30 Minnesota water systems

https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-761869

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49094533

[ok]

30 Jul 2026 17:08:40 UTC

U.S. Sees Iran as Likely Behind Cyberattack on Minnesota Water Systems

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/us/politics/minnesota-wat...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49112788

[ok]

30 Jul 2026 23:12:21 UTC

A Leaked Memo Ties Cyberattacks on Minnesota Water Utilities to Iran

https://www.wired.com/story/a-leaked-memo-ties-cyberattacks-...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49117018

[ok]

31 Jul 2026 13:35:38 UTC

US investigating if Iran was behind cyberattack on water systems in seven states

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-investigating-iran-cyberatta...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122974

[ok]

31 Jul 2026 18:17:17 UTC

Iranian hackers likely behind Minnesota municipal water cyberattack

https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2026/07/30/report-ir...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49126761

[ok]

31 Jul 2026 23:55:10 UTC

Cyberattack on water systems in multiple states has US officials on edge

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/politics/sweeping-cyberattack...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49129814

[ok]

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#75

Post by genocidicbunny »

swat535 wrote: post #63
genocidicbunny wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trouble is, there's a good chance that a large portion of the population will then be in favour of ending the war by escalating it to the point of flattening Iran. And that portion of the population has somewhat of a correlation with the political base of the current administration.

How are you going to flatten Iran? A country twice the size of Texas with 90M people. You would have to fire your entire nuclear arsenal and commit mass genocide. Even then, you may not be able to destroy the missile cities, many of them were built to be nuclear resistant.

I'm not saying it's possible to accomplish that, just that directly harming the comfort of the American populace is a good way to unify large parts of said populace in wanting to destroy you. There's a non-zero chance of increasing America's appetite for war rather than reducing it with such actions.

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#76

Post by genocidicbunny »

applicative wrote: post #67
genocidicbunny wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trouble is, there's a good chance that a large portion of the population will then be in favour of ending the war by escalating it to the point of flattening Iran. And that portion of the population has somewhat of a correlation with the political base of the current administration.

It is impossible to affect the Persian empire by such means. They might as well have tried to take the Soviet Union or China by like means. There is no such thing as 'flattening' China or Iran

Notice I said that it's the populace who will gain an appetite for flattening Iran, not that it's actually practical to achieve that. You could very well find yourself extending the war for much longer than it would otherwise go on, because there will be increased political support for it.

Look at what 9/11 did - for quite a while after the attack, which was heinous but in the grand scheme of things nothing compared to the scale of destruction that was visited upon Iraq and Afghanistan afterwards; And at least for a few years, very many Americans were in favour of those conflicts.

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#77

Post by applicative »

nvme0n1p1 wrote: post #71
applicative wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I'm not sure what Peru has to do with anything. TFA is about the USA, and usda.gov is an American site. But I bet if the average ancient Peruvian had to choose between their avocados dying or their next-door neighbors dying, they'd choose to save their neighbors. Unfortunately in modern times, I'm not so sure anymore.

[flagged]

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#78

Post by nvme0n1p1 »

applicative wrote: post #77
nvme0n1p1 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what Peru has to do with anything. TFA is about the USA, and usda.gov is an American site. But I bet if the average ancient Peruvian had to choose between their avocados dying or their next-door neighbors dying, they'd choose to save their neighbors. Unfortunately in modern times, I'm not so sure anymore.

[flagged]

Chill. I've never used tiktok. Don't assume everyone you talk to saw the same meme you did.

Did you know more than one country grows avocados?

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#79

Post by krautburglar »

garciasn wrote: post #36
krautburglar wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran is beside the point. There is always a convenient bogeyman: China, Russia, North Korea… They sow discord between peoples to cover-up the ineptitude of domestic institutional assholes.

Blacks. Homosexuals. Communists. Islamics. Hispanics. Liberals. Intellectuals. There’s always an other. That’s what the Republicans have been doing for decades.

Irrational reach.

   The Blacks! hacked our firewall!
   Those darn Hispanics! exfiltrated customer data!
   F\*\*ing Liberals! hijacked the PLC for pump 3!
...said no one ever.

Re: Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran

#80

Post by ChrisArchitect »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #74

28 Jul 2026 22:47:42 UTC Coordinated cyberattack disrupts water utilities in 30 Minnesota communities https://statescoop.com/coordinated-cyberattack-disrupts-wate... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49091021 [ok] 29 Jul 2026 07:47:11 UTC Cyberattack targeted 30 Minnesota water systems https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-761869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49094533 [ok] 30 Jul 2026 17:08:40 UTC U.S. Sees…

If a number of these submissions didn't get any upvote traction or more importantly didn't get much discussion, then this unwieldly list of links is not helpful. It's spam.
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