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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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Boys, you have ALL been selected to LEAVE th' PLANET in 15 minutes!!
(Score: 2) by carguy on Sunday December 21 2014, @04:05AM
One possibility I haven't seen yet (just read the ars comments as well as here)--
What if the steel factory operators f**ked up and caused the problem internally. Then, they decided they needed to cover their ass so they blamed it on attackers coming in over the network?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday December 21 2014, @12:30PM
If we're going to toss in conspiracy theories, another is the plant was gonna go bankrupt in 6 months anyway due to financialization structure or technological obsolescence or a design mistake, but if they can cover it up they won't lose their jobs. Perhaps the .gov would even reimburse them under some vague terrorism reimbursement thingy, if not outright, maybe an ultra low interest rate rebuilding loan. So management stuck the controls on the internet knowing the plant won't last long.
Something that makes me very nervous about my local nuclear power plant is the executive mgmt used to live more or less downwind, so I trusted they wouldn't intentionally do anything dumb. Then some mergers and the owners live in another nearby state. Then some more wheeling and dealing (and increasing prices of course) and now the plant is owned across the country by people who basically won't be affected in a meltdown. So a little more nervous now. This is related to the above paragraph, a simple regulatory way to enforce security would be to put the executive parking lot or maybe exec offices right underneath the furnace, or immediately downwind of a chemical plant or nuke plant. That would provide a little motivation for a typical slacker executive to at least try and make things safe.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by carguy on Sunday December 21 2014, @09:25PM
...put the executive parking lot or maybe exec offices right underneath the furnace,...
The ancients might have had the right idea? Before there were licensed/professional structural/civil engineers, one of my college profs claimed that the architect/mason had to be inside the cathedral when the wooden construction supports were removed. Might explain why many medieval stone buildings have survived, although these days we might say they were overbuilt.