Monday, October 30, 2006

SCADA Watch: Hackers Penetrate Water System Computers

Richard Esposito reports on ABC News' "The Blotter":

A foreign hacker who penetrated security at a Harrisburg, Pa., water filtering plant is under investigation by the FBI for planting malicious software capable of affecting the plant's water treatment operations, ABC News has learned.

The hacker tried to covertly use the computer system as its own distribution system for e-mails or pirated software, officials told ABC.

"The concern was high because it is a computer that controls an important infrastructure system, and if, for some reason, it caused it to fail, it would have disrupted service," said Special Agent Jerri Williams of the FBI's Philadelphia field office.

The Columbus Day weekend intrusion is the fourth recorded cyber-attack on a U.S. water supply in the past four years, according to the records of WaterISAC, an industry information sharing and analysis center with members from among more than 1,000 drinking water and wastewater systems in the United States.

More here.

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