Siemens sees no increased level of industrial cyberattacks despite US warning (updated)

VERBUND AG

20/08/2026 15:27

US agencies warn Siemens control devices face active threat across critical infrastructure sectors
Siemens says it detects no previously unknown vulnerabilities in S7 Series controllers
Siemens says advisory flags exploitation of misconfigurations covered in security bulletin last month
Adds Siemens comment in paragraph 5, E.ON comment in paragraph 7
By Alexander Hübner
MUNICH, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Germany's Siemens SIEGn.DE said on Thursday that it had not detected an increase in cyberattacks on its industrial control devices or any previously unknown vulnerabilities after U.S. authorities warned that hackers were targeting them.
Several U.S. government agencies on Wednesday warned that the Siemens control devices, which are widely used in factories and plants, were under "active threat".

        The warning, which comes amid incidents targeting local water systems in the U.S. that cybersecurity experts suspect are linked to Iran, highlights the risk to critical infrastructure.
The U.S. advisory said all of Siemens' S7 Series programmable logic controllers were potential targets, impacting sectors including manufacturing, energy, water, chemicals and food, where the equipment is being used.

        "At this stage, we have not detected either an increased level of attacks or any previously unknown vulnerabilities," Siemens said with regard to the controllers.
The advisory was issued by a raft of national agencies including the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

        E.ON EONGn.DE, Europe's biggest operator of energy networks, said the warning confirmed "the importance of continuous security management and underlined the need to ensure that such systems are not directly connected to the internet".
Siemens said it was in close contact with CISA, adding the advisory warned of hackers using new methods to exploit potential misconfigurations which it had already described in a security bulletin last month.
The German group, a major player in factory automation, said it was offering customers cybersecurity support and was helping to prevent misconfiguration of its modules.
Austrian power producer Verbund VERB.VI said on Thursday that it uses the Siemens components named in the U.S. government warning but has not had any incidents as they are not connected to the internet.

 (Reporting by Alexander Huebner in Munich; Additional reporting by Danny Callaghan and Tom Kaeckenhoff;
Writing by Ludwig Burger and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Friederike Heine and Susan Fenton)
 ((ludwig.burger@thomsonreuters.com))