Over recent years, US critical infrastructure has become a primary target for coordinated cyber attacks. Small water, gas, and electric utilities have faced serious risk from cyber attacks while dealing with limited budgets, staff, and forensic expertise, leaving them further exposed.

Advancements in AI have made the cyber threat landscape even more challenging. AI has become an enabler of cyber attacks, rather than a solitary perpetrator.

In August, hackers used AI to generate scripts specifically designed to exploit Siemens Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which are widespread in US water, energy, and food processing infrastructure. In a joint advisory from the National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the government explicitly noted that AI has reduced the technical expertise and time needed for malicious actors to exploit vulnerable industrial control systems (ICS attacks).

Recent months have seen a significant spike in cyber attacks targeting the operational technology (OT) of US critical infrastructure.

Vulnerable devices: Threat actors, including state-sponsored hackers and ransomware groups like SafePay, are actively exploiting internet-facing PLCs and edge devices across the energy and water sectors.
Loss of control: Attacks on utilities, such as those in Colorado, have successfully altered device passwords and IP addresses. This locks operators out of their own OT networks and causes a total loss of visibility into critical safety metrics.
The resource gap: Connecting previously isolated infrastructure to the public internet has exposed vast vulnerabilities. Smaller municipalities and local governments manage many of these utilities but severely lack the funding and cybersecurity resources to defend against these advanced threats, risking physical disruption and widespread supply chain failures.

The intersection of AI-enabled cyber threats and chronic underfunding has created a critical inflection point for US utilities. As adversaries leverage AI to accelerate attacks and bypass traditional defenses, the threat to foundational systems we rely on is dangerously outpacing local capabilities.

Providing these vulnerable utilities with immediate, robust cybersecurity support, including dedicated funding, modernized tools, and specialized expertise, is an urgent national imperative to prevent digital intrusions from triggering devastating real-world consequences.

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Articles by Allison Halataei

Head of Global Government Affairs

Scaling cyber protection for US critical infrastructure: How Elastic supports the Community Cyber Resilience Foundation

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