Reuters: German Nuke Plant Infected by Conficker, Ramnit Malware

Reports of an attack on the Israeli power grid appear to have been misplaced. The culprit: a ransomware outbreak. (Photo credit: dreamstime.)

In brief: the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant in Germany disclosed a malicious software infection including the Conficker and Ramnit malware. The infection occurred on systems used to help move nuclear fuel rods, Reuters reported.

Christoph Steitz and Eric Aucharda over at Reuters have the news today about a nuclear power plant in Germany that was infected with computer viruses.

The Gundremmingen plant, located northwest of Munich, is run by the German utility RWE. Systems on the plant were found infected with a range of malicious programs including “W32.Ramnit” and “Conficker.” The malware was discovered on “a computer system retrofitted in 2008 with data visualization software associated with equipment for moving nuclear fuel rods,” Reuters reported.

From the article:

Malware was also found on 18 removable data drives, mainly USB sticks, in office computers maintained separately from the plant’s operating systems. RWE said it had increased cyber-security measures as a result.

W32.Ramnit is designed to steal files from infected computers and targets Microsoft Windows software, according to the security firm Symantec. First discovered in 2010, it is distributed through data sticks, among other methods, and is intended to give an attacker remote control over a system when it is connected to the Internet.

Source: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says | Reuters

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