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Russian Hackers Breach Springfield, Ill. Water Utility
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ProfessorF
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:56 pm Posts: 12030
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 |  |  |  | Quote: Apparently, Russian hackers are targeting Springfield, Illinois's water. According to Wired's "Threat Level," last week a group of hackers breached the Springfield, Illinois water utility system and remotely destroyed a water pump.
The breach was discovered on November 8, when an employee noticed a problem with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA). The problem caused the water pump to burn out after being continuously turned on and off. The Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control System-Cyber Emergency Response Team, when queried by reporters, revealed that a utility company in Springfield, Illinois was hacked.
The details beyond that are hazy. As Wired pointed out, one of Springfield's water utility companies is City Water, Light and Power. A spokeswoman at the company denied that an incident had occurred there, and suggested that it may have happened to systems managed by another utility company, Curran-Gardner Public Water District. Curran-Gardner refused to comment.
The Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center released a "Public Water District Cyber Intrusion" report on November 10 that indicates that hackers may have had access to the system since September. Hackers using Russian IP addresses hacked the software vendor that makes the system. They were then able to access the vendor's database of usernames and passwords, and used the stolen credentials for remote access to the SCADA system's network. These vendors keep records of their customer's access information for maintenance and upgrading the systems.
Two to three months before the discovery of the hack, operators noticed "glitches" in the remote access to the SCADA system. "They just figured it's part of the normal instability of the system," said Joe Weiss, cybersecurity expert and managing partner at Applied Control Solutions, who obtained a copy of the report. "But it wasn't until the SCADA system actually turned on and off that they realized something was wrong."
The vendor is located in the United States, and Weiss worries about what other systems are at risk. "One thing that is important to find out is whose SCADA system this is," he said. "If this is a [big software vendor], this could be so ugly, because a biggie would have not only systems in water utilities but a biggie could even be [used] in nukes." Weiss discussed the breach yesterday on his blog, calling for better coordination and disclosure from government organizations. Because of this lack of coordination and disclosure, Weiss wrote, other water utilities were not aware of the breach, and their own vulnerability to cyber attacks. It may not be one of the biggest data thefts in history, but it's certainly one of the more odd. |  |  |  |  |
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-11/russian-hackers-breach-springfield-illinois-water-utility-destroy-pumpThere's a link there to the wired.com page - it's blocked at work so meh.
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Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:04 pm |
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AlunD
Site Admin
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:12 am Posts: 7011 Location: Wiltshire
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_________________ <input type="pickmeup" name="coffee" value="espresso" />
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Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:20 pm |
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l3v1ck
What's a life?
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:21 am Posts: 12700 Location: The Right Side of the Pennines (metaphorically & geographically)
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Question. Why is a water pumping station hooked up to the internet anyway. Surely there were ways to remote control pumps etc before the internet came along?
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Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:17 pm |
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ProfessorF
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:56 pm Posts: 12030
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Probably by having someone there 24/7 by the phone.
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Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:22 pm |
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big_D
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:25 pm Posts: 10691 Location: Bramsche
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Has Homer got a new job? 
_________________ "Do you know what this is? Hmm? No, I can see you do not. You have that vacant look in your eyes, which says hold my head to your ear, you will hear the sea!" - Londo Molari
Executive Producer No Agenda Show 246
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Tue Nov 22, 2011 5:08 am |
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AlunD
Site Admin
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:12 am Posts: 7011 Location: Wiltshire
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_________________ <input type="pickmeup" name="coffee" value="espresso" />
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Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:22 am |
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adidan
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:43 pm Posts: 5048
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Not sure where my head is at, I thought a bunch of prostitutes had attacked.
_________________ Fogmeister I ventured into Solitude but didn't really do much. jonbwfc I was behind her in a queue today - but I wouldn't describe it as 'bushy'.
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Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:49 am |
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l3v1ck
What's a life?
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:21 am Posts: 12700 Location: The Right Side of the Pennines (metaphorically & geographically)
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Hmmm. Apparently it didn't happen. CLICKY
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Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:06 am |
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