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Insider Charged With Hacking California Canal System

From Computer World:

A former employee of a small California canal system has been charged with installing unauthorized software and damaging the computer used to divert water from the Sacramento River.

Michael Keehn, 61, former electrical supervisor at the Tehama Colusa Canal Authority (TCAA) in Willows, Calif., faces 10 years in prison on charges that he “intentionally caused damage without authorization to a protected computer,” according to Keehn’s Nov. 15 indictment. He did this by installing unauthorized software on the TCAA’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, the indictment states.

Keehn accessed the system on or about Aug. 15, according to the indictment. He is set to appear in federal court on Dec. 4 to face charges of computer fraud.

As an electrical supervisor with the authority, he was responsible for computer systems and is still listed as the contact for the organization’s Web site.

With a staff of 16, the TCAA operates two canals, the Tehama Colusa Canal and the Corning Canal, that provide water for agriculture in central California, near the city of Chico. Both systems are owned by the federal government.

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[tags]SCADA, SCADA Security, Insider Threat[/tags]

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