Hackers In Florida Failed To Poison Water Supply Systems With Sodium Hydroxide

Illustration of water treatment plant. (Ivan Bandura / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Security forces in the State of Florida, United States announced a failed attempt to contaminate the water supply in the City of Florida, by a hacker who infiltrated the computer system of the water treatment plant.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri in a press conference Monday, February 8 local time, explained that this incident was discovered when a worker at the water treatment facility, Oldsmar, learned of an unusual activity system with his computer system on Friday last week.

The activity that did not last long took place at 8 am. At around 1:30 p.m., a hacker accessed the system again, took control of the mouse and pointed it at the software that controlled water treatment. The hackers then briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million.

Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is the main ingredient in liquid drain cleaners. It is also used to control water acidity and remove metals from drinking water in processing plants.

Once the hacker exits the system, a worker at the factory can intervene and reverse the Sodium Hydroxide raise.

"Because the operator sees the increase and decrease immediately, there has never been a significant detrimental effect on treated water. Importantly, the public is never in danger," Gualtieri said.

He explained that even though there was no intervention from the workers, it took 24-36 hours to enter the water supply system. Then, there is the protection of the water supply system, where the water will be checked before being distributed.

After making a repair, the worker notifies the supervisor who disabled remote access to the system. The police who received this report immediately moved quickly, including by deploying a digital forency unit. Investigators pocketed a number of important clues.

It is not yet known why Oldsmar's system was the target of hacking, and whether the perpetrators were from within or outside the United States. However, Florida City Manager Al Braithwaite ensures that the installation will get additional security systems, so that a similar incident does not happen again.

Meanwhile, the case was handled by the Pinella County Sheriff's Office, the United States Secret Service and FBI partners in Florida.