Vulnerable US dams database breached

A database housing sensitive information on hazardous US dams has been breached after an individual was wrongly handed elevated access rights.

The National Inventory of Dams (NID) contained information on 84,000 dams considered a significant hazard in the event of failure.

It helped the military keep record of water barriers in danger of risking public safety or causing economic harm.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) confirmed the database was accessed by an “unauthorised individual.” 

The NID was breached in January, the USACE told The Washington Free Beacon.

“The US Army Corps of Engineers is aware that access to the National Inventory of Dams, to include sensitive fields of information not generally available to the public, was given to an unauthorised individual in January 2013 who was subsequently determined to not to have proper level of access for the information,” spokesman Pete Pierce said.

USACE has not released further details about the incident.

The group revoked the intruder's access to the database after discovering the blunder. Usernames and passwords were updated.

An announcement on the NID website notes account changes.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com