CBS News
Water supplier American Water Works says systems hacked
American Water Works — a supplier of drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people — on Monday said hackers had breached its computer networks and systems.
The Camden, New Jersey-based utility became aware of the unauthorized activity on Thursday, and took protective steps, including shutting down certain systems, American Water Works stated in a regulatory filing. The company does not believe its facilities or operations were impacted by the cybersecurity incident, but is “currently unable to predict the full impact,” it stated.
“In an effort to protect our customers’ data and to prevent any further harm to our environment, we disconnected or deactivated certain systems. There will be no late charges for customers while these systems are unavailable,” an American Water spokesperson told CBS News in an email. The company is “working around the clock to investigate the nature and scope of the incident,” the spokesperson added.
The company said it has notified law enforcement and is cooperating with with them.
According to its website, American Water is the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the U.S., and provides drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people in 14 states and on 18 military installations.
Shares of the company were down $2.87, or 2%, at $139.71 in early morning trade.
U.S. officials have recently become concerned about alleged work by Chinese intelligence officers to breach critical U.S. infrastructure networks such as water-treatment facilities, and tied a cyberattack targeting U.S. broadband providers to the government in Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
McDonald’s beef patties test negative for E. coli in Colorado, Department of Agriculture says
Colorado has seemingly eliminated one ingredient as a cause for death and illness, as states continue to investigate the source of an E. coli outbreak involving the Quarter Pounder hamburger at dozens of McDonald’s locations. As a result, the Quarter Pounder will begin to return to certain locations.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture announced McDonald’s brand “fresh and frozen beef patties” tested negative for E. coli after its lab analyzed dozens of subsamples.
CDA says it has completed all beef testing and does not anticipate receiving further samples.
Meanwhile, the federal investigation into the deadly E. coli outbreak in Colorado has focused on ground beef patties and onions. There continues to be no evidence that onions grown in Colorado are linked to the outbreak.
According to McDonald’s, The 900 restaurants that historically received slivered onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility will resume sales of Quarter Pounders without slivered onions. Those restaurants are in Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming, as well as portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah. The restaurant chain also noted it has stopped getting onions from that facility indefinitely.
“The issue appears to be contained to a particular ingredient and geography, and we remain very confident that any contaminated product related to this outbreak has been removed from our supply chain and is out of all McDonald’s restaurants,” McDonald’s North American Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña said in a statement Sunday
Since the outbreak was first announced, CBS News Colorado confirmed one older man on the Western Slope died after consuming a Quarter Pounder from a McDonald’s location in the state. Initial information also confirmed more than two dozen people had become ill due to E. coli-affected Quarter Pounders.
Nationwide, this outbreak has sickened 75 people in more than a dozen states, but Colorado remains the only state impacted that has experienced a death due to it.
The Colorado Department of Public Health says there have been 26 cases reported in nine different Colorado counties, and they are located in several different parts of the state:
- Arapahoe County
- Chaffee County
- El Paso County
- Gunnison County
- Larimer County
- Mesa County
- Routt County
- Teller County
- Weld County
The illnesses were reported between the last days of September and through Oct. 11. An investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into the outbreak is ongoing.
McDonald’s company leaders previously said they’ve taken Quarter Pounders off the menu in states where there have been outbreaks.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.