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On Friday, February 5, hackers broke into the computer of a water plant in Oldsmar, Florida, with 15,000 cities, and added a dangerous amount of sodium hydroxide (bleach) to the water.
A station employee noticed the rise in gauges on time and thwarted their sabotage, the BBC writes.
The specified substance is added to water in small amounts to reduce acidity and prevent clogging of the pipe, but a high concentration can cause irritation of the skin, eyes, oral mucosa, sore throat, temporary hair loss, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the attackers gained remote access using the TeamViewer program.
The first time the breakthrough occurred in the morning, the operator immediately thought that the boss had decided to check something. Around lunchtime, the hackers re-entered the system and changed the composition of the water: from the usual 100 bleach molecules to a million water molecules to 11,000. This time, the station employee was already on the alert.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Galtieri said the damage was minor and posed no threat to people. Law enforcement officers have yet to arrest anyone. It is also unknown where exactly the hackers were operating from: from within the United States or from abroad.
Following the incident, remote access to the computer that controls the water supply was temporarily disabled.
As OBOZREVATEL reported, in December 2020, hackers stole data from various US departments, including the Department of the Treasury and the Communications and Information Administration.
