In a world where headlines are read and disseminated sometimes without those spreading them reading the entire articles, one would be forgiven for believing that just seven states suffered from cyberattacks against their water plants recently.
In reality from what I have garnered from multiple sources, some online, some confirmed media reports, and from some digging even deeper it is 7 to 12 states, and within those states, dozens of cities were hit.
For example, and this is from the Bing Co-Pilot, and that is AI informed, so it took a while to independently confirm the information, we see the following:
Recent investigations show at least 7–12 U.S. states have reported cyberattacks on water and wastewater systems, with Minnesota and Michigan among the hardest hit The Hill+1. In Minnesota, 30+ water systems were targeted, including cities like Plymouth, South St. Paul, Maple Plain, and Braham, while Michigan reported nine systems affected The Hill+1. Some facilities experienced brief outages or degraded operations, but no confirmed contamination of drinking water has been reported The Hill+1.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are issuing this Public Service Announcement (PSA) to warn critical infrastructure asset owners and operators that malicious cyber actors (MCAs) are conducting cyber attacks targeting Operational Technology (OT) devices, including Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), specifically MicroLogix 1100 and 1400 series. Since 27 July 2026, Water and Wastewater Sector (WWS) utility companies in at least seven states have reported incidents to the FBI, and some of that activity degraded water operations. While the FBI has only observed this behavior with the referenced Rockwell PLCs, similar considerations should also be made with other branded PLCs.
After remotely accessing internet-facing devices, the actors changed the IP addresses and passwords, resulting in a loss of monitoring and control functionality. To reduce the risk of compromise, the FBI and EPA recommend removing PLCs from direct internet exposure via secure gateway and firewalls, setting up strong, unique passwords, and utilizing an access control list (ACL) to allow only authorized communication between expected control system devices.
No reports, nor the FBI press release, have named all the states involved, but according to Fox News, along with Minnesota and Michigan, Wisconsin detected malicious cyber activity at water facilities, urging utilities to take immediate action, without naming individual cities involved, and Rapid City, South Dakota reported water system cyber incidents.
The FBI and EPA have confirmed at least six additional states beyond Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but specific states and cities have not been publicly disclosed in all reports.
No media reports, nor the FBI, has said when this initially started or how long it has been going on before being uncovered.
This brought my "conspiracy" geared mind to wondering what states reported the recent cases of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection causing severe, often “explosive” diarrhea, which has caused at least 10,468 laboratory-confirmed cases since May 1, plus at least 12,255 more unconfirmed cases, resulting in 517 hospitalizations and two deaths so far across 47 states.
This has been linked to lettuce, with recent claims blaming lettuce from Mexico, but since contaminated water can cause explosive diarrhea, especially if it contains certain parasites, bacteria, or viruses, the timing of the two events, the cyberattacks against the water systems and sicknesses caused by cyclosporiasis, should not be discounted out of hand.
Now that the conspiracy side of myself has been addressed, we'll assume the thousands of cases of cyclosporiasis are from food, which brings up a point mentioned in the comment section, of why are we using lettuce from Mexico?
That question brought up a couple of others as well.
Such as what other foods are we importing from Mexico?
According to the Bing Co-Pilot, "Certain commercially packaged and processed foods are generally allowed from Mexico, while fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy are heavily restricted or prohibited," but that isn't entirely accurate, as there is a list of produce that is allowed over the border in massive quantities. Those are listed below.
Avocados: Mexico dominates the U.S. avocado market. Of all avocados imported into the country, 88 percent come from Mexico, with Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Chile splitting the remainder. The scale of this trade has exploded over the past two decades: the U.S. imported an annual average of 2.25 billion pounds of Mexican avocados from 2019 to 2021, compared to just 55 million pounds in the early 2000s. (Source)
Tomatoes: Mexico exports approximately 1.83 million metric tons of tomatoes to the United States each year, a trade valued at nearly $3 billion. Mexican greenhouse operations and favorable climate conditions make year-round exports possible, but the shipments peak during winter and spring when American farms aren’t producing. In January 2023, Mexico supplied 70 percent of the tomatoes reaching U.S. markets. By August, when domestic crops were in full swing, that share dropped to 49 percent before climbing again through the fall. (Source)
Berries: Mexico has become a major berry supplier, and its exports continue to grow. Total berry exports, including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries, are projected to reach 752,000 metric tons in 2025. (Source)
Other fruits and vegetables: Beyond avocados, tomatoes, and berries, Mexico supplies a long list of produce that stocks American grocery stores. Limes, mangoes, peppers (both fresh and dried), cucumbers, squash, and watermelons all flow north in large volumes. The USDA has documented 14 consecutive years of expansion in horticultural imports from Mexico through 2023, reflecting both growing U.S. demand and Mexico’s investment in modern agriculture.
Peppers are a particularly notable category. Nearly all the jalapeños, serranoes, and other chili peppers sold fresh in the U.S. come from Mexico, along with most of the limes you see in stores year-round. (Source)
Other food and drink products include beer and Tequila, and the US imports live cattle and beef from Mexico as well.
Both tomatoes and different types of berries can be grown in the U.S. all year round, with those living in the colder states growing them indoors during the winter. Considering the risks of commercially grown produce from Mexico, and even in the US at times, having an indoor and outdoor vegetable garden of your own, growing your own produce, seems prudent.
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