A hacker tries to poison Florida residents with sodium hydroxide

Officials said that an electronic hacker managed to penetrate the water system of a city in the state of Florida in the United States of America and tried to pump out a "dangerous" amount of a chemical.

The hacker briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water treatment system in Oldsmar, Florida, USA, but a factor there monitored this attempt and nullified it.

Sodium hydroxide is used in small amounts to control the pH of water, but using large amounts of it can cause serious problems in the water.

A worker at the processing plant noticed an attempt to enter the system in the morning but assumed it was his boss, according to Tampa Bay.

However, the treatment plant was subjected to another attempted hack in the early hours of noon, and at this time the cyber-attacker was able to access the plant's software and increase the amount of sodium hydroxide from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million.

The agent directly reduced the level of sodium hydroxide to normal levels.