Littleton, Massachusetts, is a tiny town. One wouldn’t think its water systems would be targeted for a cyber attack. But that’s precisely what happened in November 2023 when the FBI informed the Littleton Light and Electric Company that hackers linked to the Chinese Liberation Army had infiltrated its computer systems.
The FBI was able to stop the attack before the Chinese Liberation Army gained operational control. If they had, they could have manipulated the computer systems controlling the chemicals released into the drinking water to sterilize it. Some of these chemicals, like chromium VI, and Chloramine, are already unsafe chemicals, even in small amounts. But if those amounts of chemicals were increased, they could poison people drinking their tap water, even to fatal doses.
The problem is that most of the chemicals used to treat drinking water are not detectable by taste or smell. So we could be drinking poisoned tapwater and not even know it until it’s too late.
This emphasizes that the Chinese Liberation Army is attempting to gain access to American infrastructure to launch an attack to harm us. But they are not the only ones. Considering that the US has recently bombed Venezuela and Iran, and we already have many other enemies, revenge may not come from a bomb, but rather by hacking our critical infrastructure computer systems.
What’s most frightening about the Littleton, Massachusetts, situation is that it effectively illustrates the point that water treatment systems are remotely controlled. This means that changes to the computer systems do not need to be made on-site. They are already designed to be controlled remotely, so all it takes is hacking into the already existing controls, and anyone from around the world could potentially poison and kill Americans through their drinking water.
We know we say this a lot, but it is critical in this day and age that a multi-stage water filtration system like a water ionizer protects every household. This isn’t just about getting healthy anymore; this is about protecting our families.
