Someone tried to poison a Florida city by hijacking its water treatment plant via TeamViewer, says sheriff

Someone tried to poison a Florida city by hijacking its water treatment plant via TeamViewer, says sheriff 

The sheriff of a small city in Florida warned on Monday that hackers had tried to poison its water. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Oldsmar’s water treatment system, which serves roughly 15,000 people, was accessed, presumably over the internet, by someone who had hoped to flood the supply with levels of sodium hydroxide more than 100 times the normal amount. 

The miscreant gained access to remote-control software TeamViewer that was running on a PC at the plant, the sheriff told Reuters, and used that machine to ultimately attempt to jack up the levels of sodium hydroxide. 

In small amounts, the chemical – better known as lye – helps raise the pH of the water, reducing its acidity, and minimize the amount of lead and other heavy metals dissolving into the water. In higher concentrations, it can cause, in mild cases, skin and eye irritation; in more severe cases, burns and scarring.