A January hack that caused a Texas town’s water system to overflow was linked to a mysterious Russian hacking group, the latest example of a U.S. utility being targeted by foreign cyberattacks.

The attack was one of three targeting rural towns in the Texas Panhandle. Local officials said there was no danger to the public and the attempts were reported to federal authorities.

“There were 37,000 attempts to log into our firewall in four days,” said Mike Cypert, city manager of Hale Center, which has about 2,000 residents. He added that the hack failed because the city “unplugged” the system and did it manually.

City Manager Ramon Sanchez told CNN that in Muleshoe, about 60 miles west with a population of about 5,000, hackers caused the water system to overflow, which was then shut down and manually taken over by officials. He did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

“The incident was handled and resolved quickly,” Sanchez said in a statement, KAMC-TV reported. “The city’s water disinfection system was not affected and there was no risk to the public water system or the public.”

At least one attack this week by U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant was linked to a mysterious Russian hacktivist group, which the group said may be working with or part of a Russian military hacking group.

The group, which calls itself the CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. and Polish water facilities in January that received little attention at the time.

CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn is among a group suspected of being linked to the Russian government that carried out low-sophistication attacks against Ukraine and its allies last year, including a denial-of-service data attack that temporarily took websites offline, cybersecurity researchers said.

Microsoft reported in December that these groups sometimes claimed responsibility for attacks that were actually carried out by Kremlin military intelligence hackers.

Hale Center City Manager Seipert said he has turned the information over to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The FBI declined to comment and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions to Target City.

Lockney City Manager Buster Poling said the cyberattackers in Lockney, a city about 25 miles east of Hall Center and home to about 1,500 people, were thwarted before gaining access to the town’s water system. .

“It didn’t cause any problems other than trouble,” Paulin said.

CISA issued an advisory last November following hacks of U.S. water facilities by the Iranian state group, which said they targeted facilities using Israeli equipment.

Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said in December that attacks by Iranian hackers and a series of ransomware attacks targeting the health care industry should be seen as a call to action for utilities and industry to strengthen cybersecurity.

In March, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sent a letter to state governors asking them to take steps to protect water supplies, including assessing cybersecurity and Plan for cyberattacks.

“Drinking water and wastewater systems are an attractive target for cyberattacks because they are lifeline critical infrastructure sectors but often lack the resources and technical capabilities to adopt rigorous cybersecurity practices,” Regan and Sullivan wrote.

Technical writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.