SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 15 submissions in the queue.
SoylentNews
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.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Computer Intrusion Inflicts Massive Damage on German Steel Factory
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 29 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Look afar and see the end from the beginning.
(Score: 4, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Saturday December 20 2014, @09:38PM
Hit post before I was finished.
Computers do make things better. I work on some old 60's/70's machines and they have large control cabinets full of dozens of relays, timers, terminal blocks and worst of all, custom PCB's and antiquated logic relays that you cant find because only a handful were made and the manufacturer is long gone. Then add to that the bundles of wires the thickness of my arm running all throughout the machine to multiple junction boxes with even more terminal blocks. Finding a problem requires a multimeter, giant schematic prints and patience. Often you have to work around things like missing wire tags, goofy patches and repairs that bypassed broken wire runs which aren't labelled. My favorite: the jumper lead that is clipped between some wires or terminals and never documented. They just clipped it in here to get the machine back up and running thinking "Ill just repair this when I get some time" and it never happens.
A PLC or computer eliminates most of the bulky relays and some custom pcb stuff while field buses reduce arm-thick bundles of wires to a single fieldbus cable and a power cable or two. You go from multiple refrigerator sized cabinets side by side to a much smaller enclosure. Very compact, very convenient and easy to adjust. Problems? Most of the time you plug in a laptop and see what is wrong.