Security Incidents

'Sinister' Integral Energy virus outbreak a threat to power grid   

A virus outbreak is wreaking havoc with Integral Energy's computer network, forcing it to rebuild all 1000 of its desktop computers before the "particularly sinister" bug spreads to the machines controlling the power grid.

Contractor pleads gulity to SCADA tampering  

A former IT consultant for an oil and gas exploration company has pleaded guilty to tampering with the company's computer systems after he was turned down for a permanent position with the company.

Was North Korea behind the US DDOS attacks?  

The cyberattacks that took down prominent US and South Korea n websites in the last week have apparently ended but the search for those responsible is only just beginning. North Korea has emerged as a likely culprit, especially among politicians, but was it really behind the attacks?

Buggy 'smart meters' open door to power-grid botnet   

New electricity meters being rolled out to millions of homes and businesses are riddled with security bugs that could bring down the power grid, according to a security researcher who plans to demonstrate several attacks at a security conference next month.

Gas refineries at Defcon 1 as SCADA exploit goes wild  

Gasoline refineries, manufacturing plants and other critical facilities that rely on computerized control systems just became more vulnerable to tampering or sabotage with the release of attack code that exploits a security flaw in a widely used piece of software.

Nuclear Plant Shut Down by Network Trouble  

Operators in Alabama shut down a nuclear power plant after networking problems caused water pumps to fail in 2006.

Hacker jailed for revenge sewage attacks  

An Australian man was sent to prison for two years after he was found guilty of hacking into the Maroochy Shire, Queensland computerised waste management system and caused millions of litres of raw sewage to spill out into local parks, rivers and even the grounds of a Hyatt Regency hotel.

Russia Accused of Unleashing Cyberwar  

A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with NATO urgently examining the offensive and its implications.

Hackers break into water system network  

The plant's systems were accessed in early October 2006 after an employee's laptop computer was compromised via the Internet and then used as an entry point to install a computer virus and spyware on the plant's computer system, according to a report by ABC News.

Zotob, PnP Worms Slam 13 DaimlerChrysler Plants  

A round of Internet worm infections knocked 13 of DaimlerChryslers U.S. auto manufacturing plants offline for almost an hour in August 2005, stranding some 50,000 auto workers as infected Microsoft Windows systems were patched.

Hackers vs Slackers (IET Magazine)  

Hackers are regularly trying to break into the country’s key commercial and industrial networks, said the UK government’s security minister Lord West of Spithead in August this year. Yet disturbingly, the cyber threat to SCADA systems has been met with laxity and complacency – when it’s even acknowledged in the first place.

Pentagon bans computer flash drives  

The Pentagon has banned, at least temporarily, the use of external computer flash drives because of a virus threat officials detected on Defense Department networks.

Web Warriors  

A one-hour documentary that offers an unprecedented glimpse into the world's newest and most vulnerable frontier: cyberspace. We enter the world of hackers like Mafia Boy - a 15 year old high school student who rose to infamy in 2000 by causing millions of dollars in damage after single-handedly shutting down internet giants - including Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Dell, eTrade, and CNN.
Web Warriors premiered on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on November 20 2008, and features interviews with Eric Byres and other prominent security experts. The entire video can be viewed online by following this link to the CBC web site.

Eric Byres: Digital Bond Podcast, December 2009  

Digital Bond poses these two questions to Eric Byre, CTO of Byres Security: What was the most interesting control system security story of 2008?; and: What is your prediction for 2009?

Know the risks of running industrial control systems on IP networks  

In the never-ending quest to save money and boost performance, many organizations are migrating their industrial control systems onto IP networks. As network engineers get to know these new systems, they must tread carefully -- one mistake can lead to disaster.

Critical Infrastructure Prime Target For Cyber Criminals In 2009  

The year 2008 was a time security threats and malicious activity reached a tipping point, and 2009 stands to be the year critical infrastructure systems become prime targets for cyber criminals and the global financial crisis will be exploited for a variety of malicious activities, according to a new report recently released from VeriSign’s iDefense Security Intelligence Services.

Expert: Hackers Penetrating Control Systems

The networks powering industrial control systems have been breached more than 125 times in the past decade, with one resulting in U.S. deaths, a control systems expert said Thursday.

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies<  

Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The US electrical grid: how big of a target is it?  

A follow-up to the article on the electrical grid, examining the topic of cyber vulnerabilities in more depth.

Taking a Lesson in Federal Compliance from the Chemical Industry  

Honeywell's Jon Harmon says the industry's response to CFATS provides a model for compliance with stringent federal security requirements.

Hot or Not: SCADA security is hot  

For anyone who attended the SANS 2009 SCADA and Process Control Summit recently, it became clear that the convergence of IT security and physical security is accelerating.

New Military Command to Focus on Cybersecurity 

The Obama administration plans to create a new military command to coordinate the defense of Pentagon computer networks and improve U.S. offensive capabilities in cyberwarfare, according to current and former officials familiar with the plans.

Containing Wireless Cyber Security Threats  

Proliferating use of wireless technologies sets up conflicts between the federal CIP standards and FCC regulations, say the authors of a newly available White Paper. To mitigate wireless cyber security risks, they recommend a defense-in-depth approach.