Iran-linked hackers suspected in UK power-plant shutdown after alleged Minnesota water attack

Iran-linked hackers are suspected of forcing a small British power generator offline for four days last month, the latest sign that Tehran-linked cyber activity may be moving from probing vulnerable systems to causing disruptions U.S. officials have long warned about.

Iran-linked hackers were behind the outage, according to British security officials who spoke with multiple news outlets.

"To be clear: there was no threat to the wider grid and nobody lost power.

We have one of the most resilient energy systems in the world," UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks said in a statement.

He described the generator as "tiny" but said his department had briefed CEOs following the intrusion on "steps they should take to stay secure." WATER CYBERATTACK HITS AT LEAST 7 STATES The British shutdown came weeks after hackers struck more than 30 community water systems in Minnesota, accessing technology used to remotely monitor and control pumps and other equipment.

Minnesota officials have not publicly attributed the attacks.

Several news outlets, citing U.S. officials and a leaked industry threat-sharing memo, reported that Iran was the likely culprit.

President Donald Trump has publicly rejected that assessment, saying he did not believe Iran was to blame.

Together, the incidents are putting civilian infrastructure at the center of another front in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

As the military confrontation stretches into its sixth month, relatively small and often lightly defended water and energy facilities offer hackers a way to cause physical disruption without penetrating a major power grid or striking a military target.

Those facilities can be especially vulnerable because many rely on internet-connected industrial control systems that allow operators to monitor and manage physical equipment remotely.

Once inside, hackers can interrupt operations, lock out operators or manipulate controls for pumps and other machinery.

In a July alert, the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency said malicious actors had targeted water and wastewater utilities in at least seven states by accessing exposed programmable logic controllers and changing their internet addresses and passwords.

Some incidents disrupted water operations, causing reported pressure loss and flooding.