Feds Investigating Water Utility Pump Failure As Possible Cyberattack 136
SpuriousLogic writes with this quote from CNN:
"Federal officials confirmed they are investigating whether a cyber attack may have been responsible for the failure of a water pump at a public water district in Illinois last week. But they cautioned that no conclusions had been reached, and they disputed one cyber security expert's statements that other utilities are vulnerable to a similar attack. Joe Weiss, a noted cyber security expert, disclosed the possible cyber attack on his blog Thursday. Weiss said he had obtained a state government report, dated Nov. 10 and titled 'Public Water District Cyber Intrusion,' which gave details of the alleged cyber attack culminating in the 'burn out of a water pump.' According to Weiss, the report says water district workers noted 'glitches' in the systems for about two months. On Nov. 8, a water district employee noticed problems with the industrial control systems, and a computer repair company checked logs and determined that the computer had been hacked. Weiss said the report says the cyber attacker hacked into the water utility using passwords stolen from a control system vendor and that he had stolen other user names and passwords."
Darned commies (Score:5, Funny)
Tryin to interfere with America's precious bodily fluids
Re:Could be something incredibly simple (Score:4, Funny)
This really sounds like operator error to me.
From TFA:
But in its statement, the DHS said the water system was located in Springfield, Illinois.
Springfield....
Operator error....
Something in the back [wikipedia.org] of my mind....