FBI law enforcement, the Secret Service and Florida are looking for one or more suspects who they say tried to change the composition of a local town’s water in a failed attempt to add a potentially corrosive chemical. by using the computer system at a remote treatment plant. serving the entire city, officials said.
A plant operator at the Oldsmar water treatment plant thwarted a hooker’s attempt to raise the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water to a dangerous level Friday afternoon, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a Monday news conference. Federal partners have since joined forces to investigate the matter.
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The FBI and the sheriff’s office in Pinellas County had no update on the case Tuesday morning.
“At the moment, there is not a suspect we have identified, but clues that we are following,” Gualtieri said on Monday. “We do not know now whether the offense originated inside the United States or outside the country. We also do not know why the Oldsmar system was targeted and we do not know that any other systems are illegally accessible.”
Oldsmar is about 15 miles from Tampa and houses just under 15,000 people.
The hacker only broke the system around 08:00 on Friday, but only shortly before he signed off. A service plant of a plant noticed the ‘short’ remote access but was not very concerned because supervisors ‘regularly’ access the computers to monitor the system, officials said.
“At about 13:30 the same day, someone remotely accessed the computer system again, and it appeared on the operator’s screen with a mouse moving to open various software functions that handle the water,” Gualtieri said.
In this screenshot of a YouTube video posted by Pinellas County Sheriff, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri speaks during a news conference as Oldsmar, Fla., Mayor Eric Seidel leaves, listening to Oldsmar on Monday, February 8, 2021 . , Fla. (Sheriff of Pinellas County via AP)
((Sheriff of Pinellas County via AP))
The hacker took over the system for three to five minutes, he said. They have opened a function that controls the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water – the amount changes from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million, Gualtieri said.
“This is obviously a significant and potentially dangerous increase. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is the main ingredient in liquid effluent cleaners,” he continued. “It is also used to control the acidity of the water and to remove metals from drinking water in the water treatment plants.”
The hacker left the system shortly after the parts per million were changed, and according to officials, the plant’s facility “immediately lowered the level to the appropriate amount.”
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The treatment plant supplies water directly to Oldsmar’s businesses and homes, officials said, but the water in question would not have gone to the Oldsmar public until 24 to 36 hours later, and it was checked several times before it was done. Gualtieri says there is no longer access to Oldsmar’s water system. The public was never in danger.
Sodium hydroxide is often used to control acid levels in water and can cause burns or irritation, including when it reaches a certain level.
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Following Monday’s announcement, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said he would ask the FBI “to provide all necessary assistance.”
He added: “It should be seen as a matter of national security.”