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Ars technica - Computer intrusion inflicts massive damage on German steel factory
A German steel factory suffered significant damage after attackers gained unauthorized access to computerized systems that help control its blast furnace, according to a report published Friday by IDG News.
The attackers took control of the factory's production network through a spear phishing campaign, IDG said, citing a [pdf] report published Wednesday by the German government's Federal Office for Information Security. Once the attackers compromised the network, individual components or possibly entire systems failed.
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Computer Intrusion Inflicts Massive Damage on German Steel Factory
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Help stamp out and abolish redundancy and repetition.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 20 2014, @06:49PM
I used to do industrial control system software - HMI/SCADA. One reason I don't anymore, is that our customers would do stupid things like put high-pressure gas pipelines on the Internet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 20 2014, @07:02PM
Was it? (No, of course I didn't RTFA.)
Air gap only helps so much as we've seen with Stuxnet. Can't fix stupid. Or at least you need Skynet to try and do so...
Also, was it a Siemens SCADA?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 20 2014, @07:05PM
> Why Was a Blast Furnace On the Internet?
Because some people have to learn the hard way. Network connectivity brings the bad with the good, remote monitoring and control is something that benefited the company every single day. They just never conceived of the downside until it happened to them. It is going to take a few more examples like this before the industry really comes to grips with the fact that everything comes with a price.
Similarly, maybe the Sony hack will have some effect on the "collect it all" attitude of non-industrial companies. Hackers can't steal what isn't on the net, so time to start prioritizing what data really needs to be electronic at all as well as what data should just be expired to offline storage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 20 2014, @07:42PM
" It is going to take a few more examples like this before the industry really comes to grips with the fact that everything comes with a price."
Just say NO to IoT marketing insanity.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Saturday December 20 2014, @09:42PM
How else is management supposed to get reports emailed to them daily, which they ignore but insisted were necessary? What if the boss tells you: I want to see production in real-time from my living room when I don't come in? I want to be able to see my bank account grow before the checks are cashed etc.?
Oh wait, never mind. I feel your pain.
(Score: 3, Funny) by davester666 on Sunday December 21 2014, @03:37AM
You have to use high-pressure pipes on the internet, because data traffic keeps increases every year, and it gets more and more expense to keep laying bigger and bigger pipes. Between laying new pipes, they increase pressure to get more throughput.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @06:32AM
Wait until cars start getting hacked while they drive down the highway... from news out of defcon it would seem that auto manufacturers are ill equipped and foolhardy when it comes to computer network security. At least Ford got rid of Microsoft in their cars.. that goes some of the way to solving the problem... :p
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 21 2014, @07:47AM
I clicked the link to ask the same question.
I don't blame the hackers, as much as I blame incompetent managers making idiot policy decisions.
The random hacker might be forgiven for failing to understand how destructive his play is. A plant manager is EXPECTED to understand the consequences of his decisions.
"Hey, Bob, I was thinking - if we put ALL OUR SHIT on the internet, we can keep track of it from home, or on the road!"
"Great idea, Jim. All in favor of exposing our operations to every major and minor criminal on the planet, say "AYE"!"