As the above video describes, a remote hacker managed to gain access to computer systems at the water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida, and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water by a dramatic amount.
According to the press conference called by Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Mayor Eric Seidel, and City Manager Al Braithwaite, the unauthorised access to the computer systems was first seen at approximately 8 o’clock in the morning on Friday.
According to what was said at the press conference, the operator at that time did not suspect anything out-of-the-ordinary was occurring “because his supervisor and others will remotely access his computer screen to monitor the system at various times.”
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However, at around 1:30 pm the hacker returned, and began to meddle with the plant’s settings:
“…nothing else happened from that initial intrusion at about 8 o’clock on Friday morning until about 1:30 when someone again remotely accessed the computer system, and it showed up on the operator screen with the mouse being moved about to open various software functions that control the water being treated in the system.
“The person remotely accessed the system for about three to five minutes opening various functions on the screen.”
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri explained what happened next:
“The hacker changed the sodium hydroxide from about 100 parts per million to 1100 parts per million. This is obviously a significant and potentially dangerous increase.
“Sodium hydroxide, also known ..
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