Rural Texas towns report cyberattacks that caused one water system to overflow

By KEN MILLER
Associated Press

A hack that caused a small Texas town’s water system to overflow in January has been linked to a shadowy Russian hacktivist group. It is the latest case of a U.S. public utility becoming a target of foreign cyberattacks. The attack was one of three on small towns in the rural Texas Panhandle that month. Local officials said the public was not put in any danger and the attempts were reported to federal authorities. The attack on Muleshoe caused that city’s water system to overflow before it was shut down and taken over manually by officials. The cyberattacks on Hale Center and Lockney were thwarted.