Unknown hackers tried to poison the water supply that could have harmed thousands of residents in Oldsmar, Tampa, Florida.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri revealed that unidentified hackers breached a water treatment facility’s computer system. The public utility provides water to thousands of residents in Oldsmar, Tampa, Florida.
Hackers tried to increase the level of an additive to dangerously high levels. However, the attempt was thwarted by the facility’s in-house IT team.
Hackers Exploited TeamViewer to Gain System Access
Reportedly, on Friday around 8:00 am and then on 1:00 pm, hackers remotely accessed the TeamViewer software on the computer of an employee of the facility while performing routine monitoring of the computer system.
Tweet from Reuters reporter:
This was a half written tweet. I spoke to the sheriff of the town. The way the hackers got into the water treatement facility was teamviewer.
Will have a story in a minute,
— Chris Bing (@Bing_Chris) February 8, 2021
During the second attempt, the employee got alerted as a window popped up, revealing that someone was controlling the computer.
“The next thing you know someone is dragging the mouse and clicking around and opening programs and manipulating the system,” Gualtieri said. […] “The amount of sodium hydroxide that got in was minimal and was reversed quickly,” Gualtieri confirmed.
The employee informed the company, after which they contacted the police. The water treatment facility reversed the command quickly, due to which the impact of this br ..
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