Borough of Woodbine and City of Cape May officials have disclosed that they are the two New Jersey municipalities whose water utilities were online hacked July 27.
The incidents are under state and federal investigations to identify the perpetrators.
Officials in these Cape May County communities announced the sabotage efforts in a joint press release Aug. 6. The incidents took place during a roughly 90-minute period after midnight, according to timelines in the press release.
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“While we were not affected by this incident, we also wanted that the authorities to able to do their jobs without interference or compromising the investigation,” Woodbine Mayor William Pikolycky said in an interview Aug. 7. “We made the decision to wait until such as they [investigators] were comfortable with this being public.”
A spokesman for the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) said they cannot, under state law, disclose details on victims in these types of cases.
According to the Aug. 6 release, staff with both municipal water systems quickly noticed something was wrong. Both then shifted to manual operations while tracking down the problem. Delivery and water quality were not affected.
A Cape May hotel, the Marquis de Lafayette, illuminates the night sky along Cape May’s coastline.
Pikolycky said Friday that the final effects were like losing “power for a few hours.”
In the press release, Pikolycky said the borough water system immediately catches outside attempts at gaining access to the computer system.
“Bad actors were only successful in interrupting our phone communication to the water system,” he said.
Cape May is also the potable water supplier for neighboring communities. These include West Cape May, Lower Township and Cape May Point. The U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May City is also a customer.
“We are working with state and federal agencies to ensure our water desalination plant is protected from any adversarial threat,” Cape May City Mayor Zachary Mullock stated in the release.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is involved in the investigation as well.
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The governor’s office, U.S Rep. Jeff Drew, R-Cape May, and U.S. Sens Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both D-New Jersey, were also alerted. Both communities are within Van Drew’s 2nd Congressional District.
The press release timelines for the incidents in both communities are as follows:
City of Cape May
July 27, 1:30 a.m. — City of Cape May Water and Sewer Department received an alarm that communications were lost to the remote monitoring system.
July 27, 2:30 a.m. — Water and sewer department staff arrived onsite and changed the system over to manual controls. They continued to troubleshoot the communication issues over the next several hours.
July 27, 6:30 a.m. — Water and sewer Superintendent Rob Cummisky notified City Manager Paul Dietrich of the communication problems, which first appeared to be a loss of power.
July 27, 8 a.m. — City’s controller vendor arrived to assist department staff.
July 27, 1:30 p.m. — Controller vendor determined that the loss of communication was due to a potential cyberattack. This was communicated to the city manager and the NJCCIC.
July 28, 7 a.m. — NJCCIC arrived onsite to conduct a full evaluation.
July 28, 1 p.m. — System returned to normal operations.
July 29, 7:49 a.m. — Mayor and council members were notified of the confirmed cyberattack.
Borough of Woodbine
July 27, 12:15 a.m. — Communications with the borough’s remote monitoring system were lost.
July 27, 1 a.m. — Environmental & Technical Services LLC (ETS) arrived and began manually operating the water system to maintain service until system demand was satisfied. During this time, ETS contacted the cellular service provider to determine the status of the communication connection to the remote monitoring system.
July 28 — Communication with borough’s remote monitoring system remained unavailable. The borough’s controller vendor was contacted for additional technical support. ETS continued troubleshooting the issue and manually operating the system.
July 29 — Manual operation continued into the early morning hours. The borough’s controller vendor contacted the ETS Licensed Operator and advised that the communication failure may have been related to a cybersecurity incident. At 11 a.m., ETS and the borough’s controller vendor completed corrective actions and regained control of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system. The water system was subsequently returned to automatic operation.
Local officials say additional information will be shared “as appropriate.”
For additional information, contact Dietich at pdietrich@capemaycity.com or 609-435-2642; Pikolycky at mayor@boroughofwoodbine.net or 609-861-2153; or NJCCIC at communications@njohsp.gov or 609-584-4392.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey almost four decades ago, concentrating on housing, politics, real estate, business, and development. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Hackers targeted Cape May, Woodbine municipal water systems in July
