(TLP:CLEAR) The U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment Highlights the Growing Cyber Threat to the Water Sector and the Enduring Threat of Violent Extremists

Summary: This week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) published its “Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.” The assessment focuses on the most direct, serious threats to the U.S. in 2025 and beyond and reflects the collective insights of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). The report notably underscores the growing cyber threat to water and wastewater utilities, as well as the heightened threat environment from violent extremists.

Analyst Note: The report stresses that a diverse set of threat actors are targeting the U.S.’s health and safety, critical infrastructure, industries, wealth, and government. State adversaries and their proxies are also trying to weaken and displace U.S. economic and military power, both in their immediate areas of influence and across the globe. For the first time, the report states that “U.S. water infrastructure has become a more common target. In October 2024, criminal actors conducted cyber attacks against both large and small water utilities in the United States, possibly inspired by attacks against water infrastructure by Russian hacktivists and Iranian cyber actors in 2023 that had little effect but drew substantial publicity.”

Moreover, both state and nonstate actors pose multiple immediate threats to the homeland and U.S. national interests, according to the report. Terrorist and transnational criminal organizations pose direct threats to the homeland. Among foreign terrorist organizations, the report assesses the Islamic State’s “most aggressive branches, including ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), and its entrepreneurial plotters will continue to seek to attack the West, including the United States, via online outreach and propaganda aimed at directing, enabling, or inspiring attacks, and could exploit vulnerable travel routes.” In addition, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea—individually and collectively—are challenging U.S. interests in the world, seeking to challenge U.S. dominance and sow fear in our local communities.

Original Source: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2025/4058-2025-annual-threat-assessment

Additional Reading:

• 2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community
• 2023 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community

Mitigation Recommendations:

• CISA – Top Cyber Actions for Securing Water Systems

Related WaterISAC PIRs: 1, 2, 6, & 7