Novel Technologies Bolster Cybersecurity at Water Treatment Plants By Hannah Longstaff
Without defensive technologies in place, water treatment facilities like this one can be left vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Credit: Bigstock
At 8 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 5, a municipal water plant operator in Oldsmar, Florida, noticed the city’s water treatment control system was being accessed remotely. Assuming it was his supervisor, the operator saw no cause for alarm, until a few hours later when he witnessed the cursor moving across the screen of its own accord and adjusting the level of sodium hydroxide, or lye, to more than one hundred times what it should be.