International cyber strike attacks US infrastructure

[FarCenter]

A cyber strike launched from outside the United States has hit a public water system in the Midwestern state of Illinois, an infrastructure control systems expert says.

"This is arguably the first case where we have had a hack of critical infrastructure from outside the United States that caused damage," Applied Control Solutions managing partner Joseph Weiss told AFP yesterday.

"That is what is so big about this," he continued.

"They could have done anything because they had access to the master station."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10767226

[Swede]

1. I hope coolant pumps&emergency generators at the reactors aren't online.

That could be nasty.

[elleng]

2. WTF!

'"No one realised the hackers were in there until they started turning on and off the pump," according to Weiss.

The attack was reportedly traced to a computer in Russia and took advantage of account passwords stolen during a hack of a US company that makes Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software. . .

"We don't know how many other SCADA systems have been compromised because they don't really have cyber forensics," said Weiss, who is based in California.

The US Department of Homeland Security has downplayed the Illinois cyber attack in public reports, stating that it had seen no evidence indicating a threat to public safety but was investigating the situation.

Word also circulated yesterday that a water supply network in Texas might have been breached in a cyber attack, according to McAfee Labs security research director David Marcus.'

[jberryhill]

3. Hey engineers... Listen up

The Internet is where you go to look at porn.

Please do not connect critical infrastructure to it.

Thank you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. It is rumored that the West Coast blackout in 1999

was...

So this would be the first ADMITTED one.