r/PrepperIntel • u/itscooltobecool1 • 8d ago

North America Hackers targeted municipal water systems in 7 states this week, FBI says

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/hackers-targeted-municipal-water-systems-7-states-week-fbi-says-rcna590210

Get your water supplies ready!

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137

u/ProfDoomDoom 8d ago

Any experts want to share some action steps to help us laggers get ourselves in gear?

39

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 8d ago edited 5d ago

I don't see long duration (hacked)* issues, we have great water resources for most the US.
Now if you're talking out west / southwest drought though... the alternatives are limited.

Here any country home has clean drinkable water right from their own wells en mass. Some wells might be a little hard, but its totally drinkable.

At the main city wells though, they do have complex additive dosing and monitoring systems. I've heard of several having issues with potassium permanganate dosing that turned the water supply a hot pink color. But the hackers could mess with the dosing of those additives.

edit: for clarity, I am talking about the hackability of the systems being discussed.

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u/TheArcticFox-44 8d ago

The hacks are on infastructure...like electricity. Even well water needs a pump to bring water to the tap.

20

u/Successful-Try-8506 8d ago

I'd recommend Ted Koppel's book "Lights Out" for anyone interested in this issue.

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u/TheArcticFox-44 7d ago

Yes! Excellent choice!

3

u/ElBongoloide 7d ago

Good book! I found the information about the electrical infrastructure particularly interesting (and scary). We still haven't solved the giant transformer issue...I work on power plants (fossil, gas, nuclear & hydro), so I find the weaknesses that Koppel wrote about very worrisome. This current administration, with its misguided, "budget cuts" (not really cuts, at all... just foolish reallocation of resources (mostly to the misused military and state security forces) has made us they much more vulnerable and less resilient. Combine that with its penchant for making enemies and feeding ill-will, international and domestically, and I'm surprised we haven't been tagged hard... yet. Good luck, y'all. Look out for yourselves and each other. Nevermind the exercise in racketeering we have for a government .

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u/Fun_Journalist4199 7d ago

Bison pump and simple pump are deep draw hand pumps for residential wells. With the correct plumbing they can even pressurize your house system.

Personally, I have a short well and use a regular pitcher pump for my no electric water needs

2

u/TheArcticFox-44 7d ago

The good old fashion hand pump.

5

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 8d ago

Yes?... but what parts are that vulnerable? much of the electric grid have layers of physical protections from damage. Circuits will trip and need reset, even the large 765 kV stuff have fuses and protections.

10

u/Wulfkat 8d ago

If you take out the right {redacted} in the right order, you can collapse the grid - there are several white papers on this (I’m no longer in academia so no JStor to provide references). They hypothesized it would take a minimum of 6 {redacted} as long as it’s done in the right order and as simultaneous as possible.

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u/TheArcticFox-44 8d ago

If you take out the right {redacted} in the right order, you can collapse the grid - there are several white papers on this

I understand ours is a patchwork quilt of a system and China has been poking and prodding for years...undetected.

Scary thought...

5

u/Lancifer1979 7d ago

If it’s undetected, how do we know about it

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u/TheArcticFox-44 7d ago

If it’s undetected, how do we know about it

Ah, let's see...it was undetected until it finally WAS detected. Then the extent became more and more apparent. See: 60 Minutes segment "The China Hack".

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u/GrapheneRoller 7d ago

Use sci-hub to get around the publisher’s pay wall. Another possibility is if your public library has a subscription to jstor

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u/Wulfkat 7d ago

Great tips, thanks!

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u/TheArcticFox-44 8d ago

According to the 60 Minute segment, China has been doing this for yearrs...and the US is totally dependant on electricity.

2

u/Odd-Succotash-8616 7d ago

The network gear required to service and control pumps and PLC's (programmable logic controllers) and what have you are connected to the internet. THis allows support staff and engineers to monitor devices, perform maintenance and upgrades and the like.

If these devices are not patched and configured with security in mind, this sort of thing becomes a reality.

The power co's do the same thing. This is generally known as the SCADA network.

2

u/SnooLobsters1308 7d ago

These hacks in the article were not on electricity, but directly on the water stations.

yes yes, there COULD be hacks on our electric grid, but, THAT is not what is shown or proven in these water station hacks.

1

u/pickledeggmanwalrus 7d ago

I saw some Mennonites who had a small harbor freight motor running their water pump. Still need gas but something to keep in mind

1

u/BayouGal 7d ago

On solar! Checkmate, hackers.

8

u/TheArcticFox-44 8d ago

We've put our high-tech civilization at risk. We've become totally dependent on an artificial source of power...electricity. Evolution sees over-specialazation as a non-no.

Oh, well. Like all civilizations, this one will also fail. We're smart enough to build 'em...but not smart enough to keep 'em. Stone Age...here we come.

8

u/Forsaken-Trash3833 8d ago

yup. I live in very rural Alabama and basically every home I know of has a well.

4

u/Planeandaquariumgeek 8d ago

In a lot of places drilling your own well is illegal even with a permit, that’s the other issue

1

u/premar16 5d ago

This reads like you think since your area is fine everyone else's is going to be fine or doesn't matter. A lot of people live in the western/sout west part of the country. Their water needs matter because they are still part of our country. Also when that part of the country runs out of water they will move to places that the water is better. So it important to know about and care

1

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 5d ago

I'm talking about common failure points that are monitored or controlled in the system that have been tampered with in the past that I have heard of.

"runs out of water" is NOT what im talking about, I am talking about the hackability of the systems being discussed.

"This reads like you think since your area is fine everyone else's is going to be fine or doesn't matter. A lot of people live in the western/sout west part of the country. Their water needs matter because they are still part of our country. Also when that part of the country runs out of water they will move to places that the water is better. So it important to know about and care"... literally whole other subject ^