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| Infiltrators tried to poison the water by penetrating a water treatment facility |
According to a Tampa Bay Times report, hackers have successfully compromised the computer system controlling the water treatment plant in Olsma, Florida.
This allows the hacker to remotely control a computer to change the chemical level of the water supply and increase the amount of NaOH before the host can see the behavior in real time and recover the change.
Pinhellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told a news conference Monday that the accident had never had a significant negative impact on the treated water, and most importantly, the public was never in danger.
Sodium hydroxide is used in water to control acidity. However, excessive use of sodium hydroxide can be dangerous to the human body because sodium hydroxide is the same inorganic compound used in harsh household cleaning products.
Although no one was injured, the incident was disturbing: Hackers targeted public infrastructure with an unknown intent.
Pinellas County is currently investigating the abuse with the FBI and the Secret Service. Other neighboring cities have also received notifications of potential threats.
It should be noted that this is not the first incident targeting the water supply, as the Illinois water utility was attacked by suspected Russian pirates last November.
The Tampa Bay Times clarified the critical error in their report when the remote site operator noticed the mouse moving around the screen without touching it.
The site operator was monitoring the system and found that someone had briefly accessed the system. The operator said: He did not find any anomalies because his supervisor was regularly accessing the system remotely, but someone logged into the system at the same time. Day - day.
The operator saw a person control the mouse, pointed to the program that controlled the water treatment, and stayed in the program for three to five minutes, then increased the amount of NaOH from 100 ppm to 11100 ppm.
Then the attacker leaves the system and the operator instantly changes the concentration to 100 ppm.
The province said other precautions helped prevent direct harm to the approximately 15,000 residents who depend on the drinking water facility in Mazma.