Multiple safeguards available to protect the water system

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA wants to reassure its customers that water treated in the utility’s facilities is safe to drink due to the layers of existing protocols.

At the downtown JEA water treatment plant, Kevin Holbrooks is the director of environmental compliance and his job is to ensure that the city’s water is safe. He said the attempted poisoning of drinking water at a treatment plant in the town of Oldsmar in Pinellas County is a cause for concern.

“We know that people are constantly trying to do this. It’s a known fact. The fact that a hacker got through their security is concerning, ”said Holbrooks.

Authorities said a hacker gained access to Oldsmar’s water treatment plant in a failed attempt to contaminate the water supply with a caustic chemical. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said on Monday that someone broke a computer system for the Oldsmar water treatment plant on Friday. Gualtieri said the hacker momentarily increased the amount of lye by more than 100-fold. The sheriff said a supervisor saw the chemical being tampered with and that he could step in and undo it.

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Holbrooks said JEA has taken multiple precautions.

“Our systems are monitored 24/7. The feed rate is remote controlled and can be controlled from the factory location. We operate on site and check everything daily. We have people in the field monitoring field conditions as well as remote sensors in our distribution system, ”said Holbrooks.

JEA also has lab technicians and scientists who are constantly testing and analyzing water samples to make sure the water is safe to drink. In fact, the water is tested more than 45,000 times a year on average.

When it comes to the computer system used to pump water and add chemicals to the water to make it drinkable, JEA couldn’t provide specific details without compromising safety, but the utility did issue a statement that reads :

“To address risks that can affect the security and reliability of services, JEA’s security program has a layered defense strategy. The JEA security program includes, but is not limited to vulnerability management, system monitoring and active response to such threats. These safeguards ensure that JEA actively maintains a highly secure control system.

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“JEA has also taken safety precautions to protect its water system. Water treatment plants are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and water testing is mandated and regulated by the state. JEA collects and tests an average of more than 45,000 water samples annually. “

US Senator Marco from Florida tweeted Monday that what happened in Oldsmar should be treated as a matter of national security.

While JEA continues to monitor water quality, JEA officials said they will continue to monitor the Oldsmar investigation to see if there is anything they can learn from that security breach.

On Tuesday around 4:30 pm, more than 7 million computers worldwide were attacked by hackers.

Cybersecurity expert Chris Hamer said these aren’t necessarily home computers attacking the hackers.

“These could be power plants, public utilities for municipal water supply, public transportation systems, law enforcement in hospitals,” Hamer said. “Their intention is to either take control of the system so they can pay the ransom, enter the accounting system to pay themselves back or clear their account, or jack up others’ accounts for mischief, or they are on tourists to see what they can see. “

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In the case of the Oldsmar water system hack, researchers said it was not immediately clear where the attack came from. Hamer said there is a chance that the hacker could get into the system via a malicious email or an unsecured remote desktop program.

“They’re on the internet all the time and they’re constantly calling who’s answering, and in this case, most programs answer by identifying what the actual process is, so once that’s cataloged these people will keep trying different passwords until they get in. are, ”said Hamer.

So if a system has little or no security, Hamer said, it doesn’t take much effort to infiltrate the system.