Murfreesboro City Water Department’s Bill Payment Website Hacked by Iranian Hackers

• The assessment determined that the compromise was limited to the online portal page and no customer information was accessed.
• Murfreesboro's public information officer, Mike Browning noted that the hackers gained access to the online portal via old scripts.

What’s the matter?

Murfreesboro City’s payment website for the water and sewage department has been hacked. The hacked site appears when users try to access their LINK account from the Water Department site.

The detailed picture

The compromised webpage displayed an image of the Iranian flag and the Guy Fawkes mask. A message below the image says “Hacked by Iranian Hackers” and “Hacked by Mamad Warning.”

“We are always closer to you. Your idenity is known to us. Your information is for us ;) take care,” the message read.

• Upon which, the department immediately shut down the website and launched an internal assessment to determine the source and extent of the hack.
• The assessment determined that the compromise was limited to the online portal page.

“After a fuller assessment, Information Technology for the City of Murfeesboro indicates that a compromise this morning to link to an online portal of the Water Resources Customer webpage was limited to one script page. No customer info was accessed in the propaganda attack,” the City tweeted.

What was the response?

Murfreesboro's public information officer, Mike Browning, said that the hack is isolated to the online access for the city's water department bill pay, which has two different access points. Browning added that the hackers gained access to the online portal via old scripts.

• Since the website is currently down, customers won't be able to pay their bills online.
• The City’s IT department is working on recovering the webpage and updating the security measures.

“Our staff is investigating. We don't have any more information at this time, but will keep everyone updated as we find more details,” Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland said, News Channel 5 reported.