Second water utility reportedly hit by hack attack

[FarCenter]

Images posted online suggest that hackers may have gained unauthorized access to computers controlling a second water treatment facility, a claim that raises additional concerns about of the security of the US's critical infrastructure.

Five computer screenshots posted early Friday purport to show the user interface used to monitor and control equipment at the Water and Sewer Department for the City of South Houston, Texas. They were posted by someone calling himself pr0f to counter comments included in a Register article posted on Thursday in which a US Department of Homeland Security spokesman responded to reports of an attack on a separate water plant by saying there was no “credible corroborated data” indicating critical infrastructure was at risk.

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While the events over the past two days have yet to be verified, there's no denying that huge amounts of machinery used in gas refineries, power plants, and other industrial facilities are controlled by computers that are connected to the internet. This raises the specter of core parts of the nation's infrastructure being taken over and sabotaged if hackers figure out ways to bypass their security controls. Officials are frequently aware of the risks, but financial constraints and personnel matters often trump those concerns.

“For folks with less resources available and tighter budgets, (there's) web-based remote access,” said Michael Assante, a SCADA security expert and president of the National Board of Information Security Examiners, a nonprofit focused on security workforce training. Having controls available over the internet means many cash-strapped agencies don't have to have dedicated SCADA engineers on premises around the clock, he explained. “They're trying to use the technology to maximize the resources they have available to them.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/18/second_water_utility_hack/