Jackson suspends water shutoffs after systems were “compromised”

JACKSON, Mich. (WILX) — Jackson city officials announced they are suspending water service shutoffs for the month of December after the system used to notify property owners of water shutoffs was compromised.

The notification platform remains offline, which means the city cannot send reminder messages about upcoming bills. The city’s online payment system has also been experiencing issues with utility billing.

Jackson City Manager, Jonathan Greene, said in a statement:

“Our vendor, who provides our notifications via text and phone call, was compromised, and the system is offline, which means we could not perform our customary reminder messages about upcoming bills.”

City Council Member Arlene Robinson said the billing system has also seen issues.

“There was a mix-up in the billing section…[a] mix-up with billing people,” Robinson said.

Greene said, the “vendor who provides online payment systems has been experiencing issues and charging customers with recurring payments set up extra. So we are utilizing them with extreme caution as they work out the problems.”

Robinson said the situation is concerning, but the city is taking steps to protect residents.

“It is alarming. Yes, it is concerning, so I know that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing to make sure our residents are protected,” Robinson said.

Rachel McNealey, a cybercrime researcher at Michigan State University, said utility companies often run older infrastructure that has unpatched vulnerabilities.

“So a lot of these, typically utility companies, tend to run older infrastructure that has unpatched vulnerabilities or just have ways to get in that hackers and cyber attackers like to take advantage of,” McNealey said.

She said when systems have been in place for a while and not updated, it becomes harder to fix the issue.

“So it’s often not in the hands of local governments or the businesses that are using them to fix the problems that are really above their IT infrastructure,” McNealey said.

Robinson said the pause on water shutoffs will allow for more flexibility for residents, including more time to get the money to pay their bills.

David Mercier, a Jackson resident, had his water shut off last year, “I just had to figure out how I was going to pay [the bill],” he said.

Mercier said the ciity had sent him a notification about the unpaid bill, but said, “at that time…they were already out there shutting the water off.”

The city is encouraging customers to still make payments. It expects regular shutoff procedures to resume in January.

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