Hackers destroyed a pump used by a US water utility
Hackers destroyed a pump used by a US water utility
Hackers destroyed a pump used by a US water
utility after gaining unauthorized access to the industrial control system it
used to operate its machinery. Five computer screenshots posted early
Friday purport to show the user interface used to monitor and control equipment
at the Water and Sewer Department for the City of South Houston,
Texas.
''This is arguably the first case where we have had a hack
of critical infrastructure from outside the United States that caused
damage,'' a managing partner at Applied Control Solutions, Joseph
Weiss, said.
The network breach was exposed after cyber
intruders burned out a pump. ''No one realised the hackers were in there until they
started turning on and off the pump,'' he said.
It said hackers apparently broke into a
software company's database and retrieved usernames and passwords of various
control systems that run water plant computer equipment.Using that data, they
were able to hack into the Illinois plant.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation are examining the matter, said DHS spokesman
Peter Boogaard.
"At this time there is no credible corroborated data
that indicates a risk to critical infrastructure entities or a threat to public
safety," he said, declining to elaborate further. An FBI spokesman in
Illinois did not return phone calls seeking comment.
