Hacker tries to poison US city's water supply
A good computer hacker gained usage of the water system of a city in Florida and tried to pump in a "harmful" amount of a chemical substance, officials say.
The hacker briefly increased the number of sodium hydroxide (lye) in Oldsmar's water treatment program, but a worker spotted it and reversed the action.
Lye is employed in small sums to regulate acidity but a large volume could have caused main problems in the normal water.
Oldsmar Mayor Eric Seidel said: "There's a poor actor out there."
No arrests have yet been built and it is as yet not known if the hack was completed from within the US or outside.
A computer managing Oldsmar's water treatment program was remotely accessed on Friday.
A good plant operator saw an attempt to access the system in the morning but assumed it had been his supervisor, the Tampa Bay Situations reported.
But another attempt was produced early in the afternoon which time the hacker accessed the procedure computer software and increased the sodium hydroxide articles from 100 parts per million to 11,100 ppm.
The operator immediately reduced the particular level to normal.
Sodium hydroxide may be the chief ingredient found in liquid drain cleaners. It is extremely corrosive and may cause irritation to your skin and eyes, along with non permanent loss of hair.
Swallowing it can damage the mouth area, throat and belly and induce vomiting, nausea and diarrhoea.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said: "I'm not really a chemist. But I can tell you what I do know is... in the event that you put that volume of that substance into the normal water, it's not a very important thing."
But he added: "At no time was there a substantial adverse influence on the water appearing treated. Importantly, the general public was never in danger."
The Oldsmar plant provides water to businesses and about 15,000 residents.
The remote access program to the water system has been temporarily disabled.
