Over 4,400 Rockwell PLCs Exposed Online, 22 Found in Cities Hit by Water Utility Attacks

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A Forescout scan on August 3 identified 4,407 internet-facing Rockwell Automation programmable logic controllers worldwide, with 2,844 located in the United States. Twenty-two of these controllers are situated in US cities where water utilities have reported cyberattacks since July 27, and 19 of those share the same mobile carrier network. Recent attacks on water utilities did not exploit software vulnerabilities — attackers simply connected to controllers that were openly reachable online and changed IP addresses or passwords, causing operators to lose visibility or control of equipment. More than half the exposed devices are MicroLogix 1400 models, and a significant portion run end-of-life hardware, with over 70% of US-exposed controllers sitting on large mobile carrier networks — a common setup at small remote utility sites lacking fixed broadband. The FBI and EPA have advised water utilities to enforce strong authentication, keep firmware updated, and isolate remote access behind private networks or VPNs rather than leaving controllers reachable on public carrier IP addresses.

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