WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Hackers outside the United States were responsible for damaging the municipal water system in Springfield, Ill., an expert says.
Joe Weiss provided information from a report on the Illinois attack to The Washington Post. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman confirmed the damaged water pump in Springfield and said federal agents were trying to determine if it was the result of a computer attack, the newspaper said.
The report said the pump burned out after the system powered up and down unpredictably. Weiss said a municipal water district employee noticed the problems Nov. 8, and a technician determined the system had been hacked into from a computer in Russia.
Computer hackers made a two-stage attack, Weiss said. The first was hacking into a software company data base to obtain the passwords needed for later attacks.
The report said investigators do not know if the hackers succeeded in getting into other systems.
"This is a big deal," Weiss said.
The computer used by the hackers is believed to be physically located in Russia.
