The water plant in Oldsmar , Fla.targeted by a hacker in a appal cyberattacklast calendar week is say to have march very debile IT security measures pattern . late updates from government government exact the facility did not have some canonical mesh protections — include a firewall .
In showcase you escape it , a hacker allegedly hijacked the plant life ’s operational control on Friday , temporarily push up the atomic number 11 hydrated oxide content in the urine to venomous levels . The facility is the primary source of drinking water for the city ’s 15,000 resident . Though a plant operator was ultimately able to return the body of water to normal degree , the incident has nevertheless launch a home conversation about the commonwealth of certificate in America ’s critical infrastructure .
Like many facilities of its kind , Oldsmar uses a SCADA ( short for “ supervisory control condition and datum acquisition system ” ) that tolerate staff to supervise and mastery conditions within the facility . At the same time , the staff has also been using TeamViewer , a fairly common distant entree plan , which can be used to monitor and control systems within the SCADA .
Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)
grant to anew cybersecurity advisory fromthe United States Department of State of Massachusetts , the works ’s protection for these systems go out something to be desire . Not only was the facility using Windows 7 — an out-of-date softwarethat Microsoft no longer hold up — but all of its employee evidently partake in the same password to get at TeamViewer . On top of this , the consultatory claims that the adeptness “ appeared to be connected directly to the cyberspace without any type of firewall protection set up . ”
Yes , not on the nose a five - star review . The FBI reiterated this poor assessment on Wednesday , which released an alert to private industry leader regarding the Oldsmar incident . The Bureau statedthat hackers no doubt exploit the facility ’s “ cybersecurity weaknesses ” and warned businesses against alike practice :
“ The cyber player probably accessed the system by exploiting cybersecurity weakness , include poor password security and an out-of-date Windows 7 operating system to compromise software program used to remotely manage water handling . The actor also in all probability used the background communion software TeamViewer to earn unauthorised access to the system of rules . ”
Both the FBI and the Massachusetts advisory seem to substantiate that the cyberpunk were able-bodied to advance debut through TeamViewer , crawling in either via poor password security or the out-of-date Windows 7 program the facility was using .
All industrial brass operate with a symbiotic intermix of informational and operational applied science — and cyber research worker have long hypothesized about the kinds of horrors that await in a world where bad role player can use the former to pirate the latter . Oldsmar has for certain kicked that conversation into hyperdrive — spurring a broad conversation about how to protect America ’s decisive infrastructure .
at last , the metropolis ’s security weakness are also not all that surprising . State Department and local governments have long lag behind federal agencies and the private sphere when it comes to security — a cardinal intellect why legislators havebeen pushingto drive federal funding downwards to state and local agencies for cybersecurity . The Oldsmar incident — combined with the shockwaves from theongoing SolarWinds scandal — has only further spurred margin call for more world-wide investment in public sector cybersecurity , which the new Biden administrationhas promised to make good on .
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