Hacker tried to poison Florida's city's water supply

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Feb 10, 2021 06:00 am

WASHINGTON : A hacker broke into a Florida city's water supply and briefly pushed levels of a potentially dangerous additive up 100-fold.

The hack was noticed quickly and reversed immediately, so no one in the Tampa suburb of Oldsmar was ever in danger, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said on Monday.

A computer operator noticed on Friday afternoon someone remotely accessing the plant's controls, Mr Gualtieri said.

The operator watched the mouse pointer move between various functions before opening the controls for adding sodium hydroxide to the water.

The chemical, also known as lye and used in drain cleaners, is added in very small amounts to control acidity and remove metals from the water before it goes to consumers.

Mr Gualtieri said water users would not have been hurt because it would have taken at least 24 hours for the water with high sodium hydroxide levels to reach consumers. By that time, safety mechanisms would have alerted officials to the change in water quality. - AFP