A federal grand jury indicted a former employee of a contractor who operated a wastewater treatment facility in a California town, alleging he could have remotely turned off critical systems and endangered public health and safety.
Rambler Gallor, 53, of Tracy, California, worked full-time for a Massachusetts company that contracted the town of Discovery Bay to operate a water treatment plant.
Gallor is said to have held a “instrumentation and control technology” role at the plant from July 2016 to December 2020.
However, according to the indictment, Gallor allegedly planted software on his personal computer that allowed him to remotely access systems on the Discovery Bay water treatment facility’s computer network.
Specifically, it alleged that after resigning in January 2021, Gallo remotely accessed the facility’s network and “sent an order to remove the software that protects the entire water treatment system, which is the main hub of the facility’s network.” Pressure, filtration and chemical levels.”
US Department of Justice press release It provides no explanation or possible motivation for Gallo’s alleged actions.
However, if the claims are true, it suggests that organizations have once again failed to adequately control access to critical systems. When an employee or contractor member leaves the organization or is assigned another role within the company, it is important to revoke privileges on systems that are no longer accessible.
My mind went back to June 2021 in an instant. Declaration Malicious hackers have compromised a water treatment plant serving the San Francisco Bay Area after using a former employee’s TeamViewer account to gain remote access.
All too often, disgruntled current and former employees have been able to abuse their access to do worse (or worse) damage than traditional cybercriminals have done.
When it comes to critical infrastructure such as water treatment plants, it is particularly important to have appropriate access controls in place and regularly assessed.
In October 2021 authorities warning Wastewater systems are a regular target of ransomware gangs seeking to extort money from disrupting operations. The last thing they probably need is to worry about rogue ex-employees too.
If convicted, Gallo could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of US$250,000.
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