Security News > 2021 > February > Someone tried to poison a Florida city by hijacking its water treatment plant via TeamViewer, says sheriff

The sheriff of a small city in Florida warned on Monday that hackers had tried to poison its water.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Oldsmar's water treatment system, which serves roughly 15,000 people, was broken into by someone, via the internet, who had hoped to flood the supply with levels of sodium hydroxide more than 100 times the normal amount.

In small amounts, the chemical - better known as lye - helps raise the pH of the water, reducing its acidity, and minimize the amount of lead and other heavy metals dissolving into the water.

The cyber-break-in did worry officials enough to call a press conference, where they outlined the information they currently have while stressing that there are other safeguards that would have prevented high levels of sodium hydroxide from entering the main water supply.

It would have taken more than a day for the adulterated water to enter the public's water system, we're told, during which time the plant would have caught the disparity.

Oldsmar's water treatment plant itself was set up to only allow authorized users to access it remotely, the sheriff insisted.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/02/09/florida_water_hacked/