"Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the attacker tried to raise levels of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100. "
"Local and federal authorities are investigating after an attempt Friday to poison the city of Oldsmar’s water supply, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
Someone remotely accessed a computer for the city’s water treatment system and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100, Gualtieri said at a news conference Monday. The chemical is used in small amounts to control the acidity of water but it’s also a corrosive compound commonly found in household cleaning supplies such as liquid drain cleaners.
The city’s water supply was not affected. A supervisor working remotely saw the concentration being changed on his computer screen and immediately reverted it, Gualtieri said. City officials on Monday emphasized that several other safeguards are in place to prevent contaminated water from entering the water supply and said they’ve disabled the remote-access system used in the attack."
Jack Evans reports for the Tampa Bay Times February 8, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"Someone Hacked Into a Florida City's Water Supply and Tried to Poison It" (Gizmodo)
"‘Dangerous Stuff’: Hackers Tried to Poison Water Supply of Florida Town" (New York Times)
"Apocalypse Any Minute Now" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
"How the United States Lost to Hackers" (New York Times)
"Cybersecurity: 'What Nightmares Are Made Of.' Hackers Hit Fla. Water Supply" (E&E News)
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