He did not find it suspicious that the person used TeamViewer even though the utility had switched to a different software six months prior. The operator observed another person accessing his computer early in the morning but did not report an intrusion, because he assumed the person was his supervisor. What these officials did not mention is whether these alarms are hard-wired or whether a hacker could have remotely accessed and altered or disabled them.ĭespite the city’s success at preventing the worst from happening, this is also a story of cyber failures. A stealthier hacker would not have been so sloppy.Īt a press conference, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and other local officials were quick to reassure the public that the operator immediately detected and reversed the hacker’s actions before additional chemicals were added and that alarms in the system would have sounded before tainted water reached the public. That operator’s observations and subsequent actions prevented disaster. local time) when an operator was sitting at the monitor. Ravich, our colleague at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, observed last June, remote access applications and other types of programs and technology may “reduce costs, enhance efficiencies, and improve quality,” but because water utilities are “not implementing security systems and processes” in parallel, these programs also introduce vulnerabilities.įortunately, the Florida hacker accessed the system during normal business hours (the hack occurred at 8 a.m. Industrial control systems cyber experts speculate that the hacker used stolen credentials.Īs Samantha F. The hacker breached the network through TeamViewer software, a commonly used program for remote system maintenance. At high levels, it would have poisoned the city’s drinking water. Sodium hydroxide is lye and the main ingredient in drain cleaner. Upon gaining access to the system, the hacker increased the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water to dangerous levels. This breach is a reminder that the country’s water infrastructure is poorly secured in cyberspace - and that vulnerabilities in this critical system pose real world consequences. An unknown hacker remotely accessed the chemical controls of a water treatment plant in the City of Oldsmar, near Tampa, Fla., earlier this month.

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