Hackers destroy blast furnace in German steel mill

by
in security on (#2WPR)
A recent report by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security reveals that hackers caused "massive" damage to an unnamed steel mill. They did so by manipulating and disrupting control systems to such a degree that a blast furnace could not be properly shut down. The report doesn't name the plant or indicate when the breach occurred.

This is only the second confirmed case in which a wholly digital attack caused physical destruction of equipment. The first case, of course, was Stuxnet, the sophisticated digital weapon the U.S. and Israel launched against control systems in Iran in 2008 to sabotage centrifuges at a uranium enrichment plant. Industrial control systems have been found to be rife with vulnerabilities, though they manage critical systems in the electric grid, in water treatment plants and chemical facilities and even in hospitals and financial networks.

Re: I Understand (Score: 1)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2015-01-13 09:14 (#2WPW)

You understand? I don't. Yes, it is understandable that no one wants to come to work at 2am t troubleshoot. But you also mentioned one solution: VPN. It is (or should be) a well known fact that embedded devices and industrial systems often suck at security. But this does not matter, if they are isolated behind a proper firewall/gateway. It may not be possible to upgrade the machinery, but the access to and from those systems should be under total control of the operating company.
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