Two Cape May County municipalities, Cape May City and Woodbine, disclosed on Thursday that their water systems had been targeted by cyberattacks on July 27, with the incidents resolved by July 29. These intrusions mirror a surge of similar attacks reported across the country last week, raising concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.

Local officials stressed that the cyberattacks did not compromise the safety or quality of public drinking water in either town. They also confirmed that no personal information or customer data was accessed or compromised. Cape May City Manager Paul Dietrich stated, "We acted quickly to contain the incident and continued to work with cybersecurity experts to strengthen our systems while maintaining uninterrupted service to our community."

Cape May's water system serves not only the city but also neighboring West Cape May, Cape May Point, Lower Township, and the nearby Coast Guard training center. Woodbine's infrastructure, according to Mayor William Pikolycky, is designed to catch unauthorized access attempts immediately. "Fortunately, Woodbine's water system is constructed in such a way that any outside attempts at gaining access to the system are caught immediately and resolved just as quickly," Pikolycky said. "Bad actors were only successful in interrupting our phone communication to the water system. This resulted in a few bad hours for the Borough of Woodbine Water Department personnel as they reactivated the system manually and consulted with the contractor, CISA, Homeland Security, and the FBI. Once the information gathering was complete, the system was back online with no further issues."

Both towns reported the cyberattacks to the Governor's Office, U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim, and U.S. Representative Jeff Van Drew, a Republican representing the 2nd District. The investigation remains active, with authorities working to determine the origin and full scope of the breach.

The issue extends beyond South Jersey. On July 30, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an alert warning of a "significant increase" in cyber threats targeting water and wastewater systems nationwide. The intrusions have involved technology that changes passwords and locks operators out of systems, leading to boil-water notices and forced manual operations. The alert followed a cyberattack in Minnesota that officials said could be linked to Iran. "The threat actors are targeting water entities of all sizes. Even water organizations with mature cybersecurity processes should validate their external connections," the agency advised.

CISA recommended system operators take several protective steps, including using VPN or gateway devices, enabling password protection, changing default passwords, and allowing remote access only from known sources. The incidents in Cape May County underscore the persistent and growing risk to essential utilities, prompting calls for heightened vigilance across the sector.