Hackers target US water pump

Thousands of homes in an Illinois city have had their water treatment services compromised by a reported cyber attack.

Criminals are said to have hacked into the system that controls a water pump near Springfield and turned it on and off repeatedly.

This has resulted in the pump burning out, which has left a number of homes without clean water.

The security breach was first made public by industrial control systems expert Joe Wiess, who wrote in his blog that utility providers must protect their passwords and login details more carefully to avoid similar incidents.

Inspectors from the FBI and the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) are also now looking into reports of a second attack.

However a representative from the DHS remarked: "At this time there is no credible corroborated data that indicates a risk to critical infrastructure entities or a threat to public safety."

Ian Lobban of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters recently suggested that the number of cyber attacks coming to light was "disturbing".

Posted by Lauren Steadman