November 18, 2011 at 12:16Attackers gain remote control over a water treatment system at one of the US water treatment plants
Once I watched a film about crackers who got the opportunity to control the energy system, water system and even road navigation of a city (or country?). As far as I remember, the attackers almost ruined the control system of the whole country, and all thanks to the fact that they had all the control levers. The film was shown at the beginning of the two thousandth, so then all this was perceived as fiction. But little by little, the ideas shown in that film (the name, unfortunately, I don’t remember), are also being realized by real attackers. So, recently it became known that unknown persons managed to get into the control system of a water treatment plant of one of the US companies, and controlled the equipment remotely.
So far, Applied Control Solutions is investigating the incident. The head of this company said that he was meeting with a similar case for the first time. Most likely, experts say, the attackers at first were able to somehow introduce the Trojan software into the station control system (the SCADA system was infected). And then they took control under their control. An interesting point is that the “highlighted” addresses from which the attack was conducted are listed behind the Russian IP segment. At the same time, experts believe that all this can be fabricated, that is, the addresses are fake.
According to representatives of Applied Control Solutions, the water treatment plant was attacked as early as November 10, and two days the attackers controlled its equipment. A few days later this fact was discovered, and an investigation of the incident began. It is believed that hackers were able to control almost any station equipment. Such control led to the fact that one of the pumps for pumping water to the station failed. In addition, other equipment was damaged, although not so much.
In general, what matters is not that the hackers were able to manage a particular water treatment plant of a particular company, but the fact that this is really possible is being used. It is likely that hackers simply tried their own forces at one of the state stations. Talking about what consequences a seizure of control over the water treatment plants of a large settlement may have is likely to be unnecessary. We all understand what might happen.
By the way, back in 2000, some operator of a water treatment plant, offended by his management, was able to gain control over the entire plant system using stolen software and a radio control system. As a result, millions of liters of wastewater were discharged into the river and carried to the sea. The marine and river ecosystem has died, and there are still significant problems in that region (Queensland, Australia).
Via CNET
So far, Applied Control Solutions is investigating the incident. The head of this company said that he was meeting with a similar case for the first time. Most likely, experts say, the attackers at first were able to somehow introduce the Trojan software into the station control system (the SCADA system was infected). And then they took control under their control. An interesting point is that the “highlighted” addresses from which the attack was conducted are listed behind the Russian IP segment. At the same time, experts believe that all this can be fabricated, that is, the addresses are fake.
According to representatives of Applied Control Solutions, the water treatment plant was attacked as early as November 10, and two days the attackers controlled its equipment. A few days later this fact was discovered, and an investigation of the incident began. It is believed that hackers were able to control almost any station equipment. Such control led to the fact that one of the pumps for pumping water to the station failed. In addition, other equipment was damaged, although not so much.
In general, what matters is not that the hackers were able to manage a particular water treatment plant of a particular company, but the fact that this is really possible is being used. It is likely that hackers simply tried their own forces at one of the state stations. Talking about what consequences a seizure of control over the water treatment plants of a large settlement may have is likely to be unnecessary. We all understand what might happen.
By the way, back in 2000, some operator of a water treatment plant, offended by his management, was able to gain control over the entire plant system using stolen software and a radio control system. As a result, millions of liters of wastewater were discharged into the river and carried to the sea. The marine and river ecosystem has died, and there are still significant problems in that region (Queensland, Australia).
Via CNET