Cape May, Woodbine officials respond quickly, prevent harm
CAPE MAY — The Cape May Water and Sewer Department and the Woodbine Water Department recently identified and responded to a cybersecurity incident affecting portions of their computer networks.
Upon detecting the unauthorized activity, the departments immediately activated their incident response procedures, isolated the affected systems and began working with cybersecurity specialists, the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to investigate and contain the incident, according to a news release from the city. The investigation remains ongoing.
The incident did not interfere with the safety or quality of the public drinking water in either municipality, the release stated. Water treatment, water supply and monitoring systems continue to operate safely, and routine testing confirms that the water supply remains safe. Additionally, no personal information or customer data was accessed or compromised in either water system as a result of this incident.
“Our highest priorities are protecting public health, maintaining reliable water service and safeguarding our systems,” City Manager Paul Dietrich said. “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. Our water supply remains safe thanks to the efforts put forth from our Water and Sewer Department and NJCCIC to quickly detect, contain and eradicate the threat.”
“We are taking every effort to protect and defend our water supply and production. We supply water to the city of Cape May, West Cape May, Lower Township, Cape May Point and the United States’ only Coast Guard Training Center located in Cape May City,” Mayor Zach Mullock said. “We are working with state and federal agencies to ensure our water desalination plant is protected from any adversarial threat.”
This incident has been reported to the Governor’s Office, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Andy Kim and U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who responded quickly and stand ready to assist if there any further repercussions arising from this occurrence, according to the news release.
“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,” Mayor William 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.”
The NJCCIC serves as New Jersey’s primary civilian cybersecurity resource, providing cyber threat intelligence, incident response coordination and technical assistance to public agencies and critical infrastructure partners throughout the state. Its assistance helps ensure that cybersecurity incidents are thoroughly investigated and that appropriate protective measures are implemented.
Water service has remained operational throughout the incident, and residents do not need to take any action. Officials will continue to monitor system performance and provide updates if new information becomes available.
Contact Dietich at [email protected] or (609) 435-2642, Pikolycky at [email protected] or (609) 861-2153, or NJCCIC at [email protected] or (609) 584-4392.
