(Image source: U.S. Department of Defense)
 

BY STEFANIE REDDING

Foriegn hackers have launched a cyber attack on the water supply of Illinois’ state capital, Springfield. WMAQ has more...

“Russian cyber hackers may be to blame for an attack on a water plant there. Workers noticed glitches before the water pump burned out. They determined the computers were hacked. Homeland security is now investigating. It could be the first cyber attack on an American water supply.”

A writer for The Register spoke to Joe Weiss, a managing partner for cyber security company Applied Control Solutions, about how and why the attack happened on a water supply.

“ [Weiss] said the breach was most likely performed after the attackers hacked into the maker of the supervisory control and data acquisition software used by the utility and stole user names and passwords belonging to the manufacturer's customers.”

The full motive for the attack is still unclear, but The Daily Mail writes that this method seems similar to one cyber attackers used in China.

“The method used, hacking a security company to gain entry to another company, was employed earlier this year by cyber attackers in China. They stole data from RSA, a division of EMC that provides secure remote computer access to government agencies. … Security experts say the attacks show just how vulnerable companies and utilities are.”

Still, The Department of Homeland Security is hesitant to point the finger at Russia. A writer for Digital Trends says finding out who did this isn’t as easy as finding an IP address.

“The attack appears to have been launched from an IP address located in Russia, though it’s possible that the hacker or hackers who waged the attack are physically located elsewhere, and simply waged a proxy attack to make it appear as though Russia was the base of operations.”

Director of security research for McAfee Labs Dave Marcus tells the Washington Post that the United States is “vulnerable” to these kind of attacks.

“[Marcus] said that the computers that control critical systems in the United States are vulnerable to attacks that come through the Internet, and few operators of these systems know how to detect or defeat these threats. ‘So many are ill-prepared for cyber-attacks,’ Marcus said.”

Slash Gear reports it’s still unclear how many remote access credentials have been stolen.