Joint Cybersecurity Advisory TLP Clear: IRGC-Affiliated Cyber Actors Exploit PLCs in Multiple Sectors
Joint Cybersecurity Advisory TLP Clear: IRGC-Affiliated Cyber Actors Exploit PLCs in Multiple Sectors, Including U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems Facilities
SUMMARY
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD)鈥攈ereafter referred to as "the authoring agencies"鈥攁re disseminating this joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to highlight continued malicious cyber activity against operational technology devices by Iranian Government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) cyber actors.
The IRGC is an Iranian military organization that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019. IRGC-affiliated cyber actors using the persona 鈥淐yberAv3ngers鈥 are actively targeting and compromising Israeli-made Unitronics Vision Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs). These PLCs are commonly used in the and are additionally used in other industries including, but not limited to, energy, food and beverage manufacturing, and healthcare. The PLCs may be rebranded and appear as different manufacturers and companies. In addition to the recent , the authoring agencies are releasing this joint CSA to share indicators of compromise (IOCs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with IRGC cyber operations.
Since at least November 22, 2023, these IRGC-affiliated cyber actors have continued to compromise default credentials in Unitronics devices. The IRGC-affiliated cyber actors left a defacement image stating, 鈥淵ou have been hacked, down with Israel. Every equipment 鈥榤ade in Israel鈥 is CyberAv3ngers legal target.鈥 The victims span multiple U.S. states. The authoring agencies urge all organizations, especially critical infrastructure organizations, to apply the recommendations listed in the Mitigations section of this advisory to mitigate risk of compromise from these IRGC-affiliated cyber actors.
This advisory provides observed IOCs and TTPs the authoring agencies assess are likely associated with this IRGC-affiliated APT. For a downloadable copy of IOCs, see AA23-335A.stix. For more information on Iranian state-sponsored malicious cyber activity, see CISA鈥檚 and the FBI鈥檚 webpage.
View the detailed advisory below.
Actions to take today to mitigate malicious activity:
- Implement multifactor authentication.
- Use strong, unique passwords.
- Check PLCs for default passwords.
For help with Cybersecurity and Risk Advisory Services exclusively for AHA members, contact: