Nick Lawler, general manager of the Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments (LELWD), was at home one Friday when he got a call from the FBI alerting him that the public power utility's network had been compromised. The digital intruders turned out to be Volt Typhoon. Lawler didn't believe it at first. LELWD provides electricity and water to the towns of Littleton and Boxborough, Massachusetts, which have a combined population of about 15,000 people. Go f-yourself, I'm not going to click on a link, you must think I'm an idiot. What is your name again? "We don't have any access to large critical infrastructure. We don't own transmission. We're a distribution company. Yes, we're part of the overall grid, but the impact of taking out Littleton is small. You would never think that would be a target of any type of attack," Lawler told The Register. The FBI agent told him that LELWD was one of 200 utilities on a list of organizations that had been breached. He asked Lawler to give his personal email address and said he would send over a link to click on and further diagnose the severity of the issue. "It sounded like one of those Microsoft scams," Lawler said. He told the agent: "Go f-yourself, I'm not going to click on a link, you must think I'm an idiot. What is your name again?" Then he hung up and called the FBI Boston office directly. The same agent answered his call, and this is when Lawler started to think it might be serious. But he still wasn't going to give out his ...
This is the FBI, open up. China's Volt Typhoon is on your network
Affected Software
Frequently Asked Questions
Which organization was confirmed to have been compromised, and what services does it provide?
Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments (LELWD) was compromised. It provides electricity and water to Littleton and Boxborough, Massachusetts, which together have about 15,000 residents.
Who informed LELWD of the breach, and how widespread did the FBI say the activity was?
An FBI agent contacted LELWD general manager Nick Lawler at home. The agent said LELWD was one of 200 utilities on a list of breached organizations.
Why did the initial FBI contact raise suspicion for the utility manager?
The agent requested Lawler's personal email address and said he would send a link to assess the issue's severity. Lawler said the request resembled a Microsoft scam and initially refused to click a link.
Why did Lawler believe LELWD would be an unlikely target?
LELWD is a distribution company and does not own transmission or have access to large critical infrastructure. Lawler said that while it is part of the overall grid, disruption of Littleton alone would have a small impact.