Someone tried to poison a Florida city by hacking into the water treatment system, sheriff says

[Dashinka 24,735]

A little scary.

 

Someone tried to poison a Florida city by hacking into the water treatment system, sheriff says

 

 

A hacker gained access into the water treatment system of Oldsmar, Florida, on Friday and tried to increase the levels of sodium hydroxide -- commonly referred to as lye -- in the city's water, officials said, putting thousands at risk of being poisoned. 

The incident took place Friday when an operator noticed the intrusion and watched the hacker access the system remotely. The hacker adjusted the level of sodium hydroxide to more than 100 times its normal levels, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. 

The operator immediately reduced the level back. At no time was there a significant adverse effect to the city's water supply, and the public was never in danger, Gualtieri said. It is unknown if the breach happened from someone locally, nationally or even outside of the United States.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/08/us/oldsmar-florida-hack-water-poison/index.html

[TBoneTX 45,918]

Not just a little -- and something says that security will immediately become top priority there and elsewhere.

[Dashinka 24,735]

8 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Not just a little -- and something says that security will immediately become top priority there and elsewhere.

Too much interconnectedness with key safety related processes.  Having a process as critical as drinking water treatment is connected to the internet is just wrong.

[Dashinka 24,735]

So it was an outdated version of MS Windows.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/outdated-computer-system-exploited-florida-water-treatment-plant/story?id=75805550

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

The water would have had a  higher PH , but the concentrations would have hardly been Poison.  Nor would the caustic soda concertation been high enough to cause burns or sever damage. More lazy journalistic P.T. Barnum reporting.  Serious yes but poison is laughable 

[Dashinka 24,735]

1 hour ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

The water would have had a  higher PH , but the concentrations would have hardly been Poison.  Nor would the caustic soda concertation been high enough to cause burns or sever damage. More lazy journalistic P.T. Barnum reporting.  Serious yes but poison is laughable 

I agree, at least with the headline writer going for the clickbait.  However, it is still troubling how vulnerable some of our key infrastructure facilities are.