Could the Florida water-supply hacking happen in New York?
Last week, a hacker took control of an employee’s computer at a small water-treatment plant in Florida. Within a few hours, the level of sodium hydroxide, the chemical compound known as lye that’s added to dissolve heavy metals, had increased to 100 times the usual amount. … Attacks on water systems are certainly not new — in 1924, California farmers blew up part of the aqueduct that was siphoning a local lake 200 miles south to the growing metropolis of Los Angeles — but as more infrastructural operations are carried out using remote and automated systems, there’s growing concern that the security of such systems, particularly smaller water systems with fewer resources, could be breached.