Search Results for "Industrial Control System"

Report: DHS and FBI Briefing Grid Operators on Sophisticated Cyber Attacks

A spate of reports in recent days has put the media’s attention back on the security of the energy sector and critical infrastructure more broadly. Notably: this CNN report that cites NSA director Admiral Mike Rogers telling the audience at a power grid security conference in San Antonio, Texas in October that “power… is one of the segments that concerns me the most.”   What’s changed? For one: the uptick in ICS-specific malware like BlackEnergy. A spate of attacks based on that malware and others have targeted critical infrastructure players in recent months. According to a confidential memo obtained by CNN, the FBI and DHS are now traveling the country to warn utilities and other critical infrastructure owners about targeted attacks on industrial control systems. Some of those attacks are exploiting previously unknown (or “zero day”)  vulnerabilities in ICS systems, CNN reported. The U.S. Government has been warning about the threat of cyber attacks on […]

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Biggest Threat to Critical Infrastructure? Lack of Imagination

The threats to critical infrastructure in the U.S. and elsewhere are so plentiful that even trying to enumerate them is futile (and not a bit depressing). But – if we were to rank them in order of importance – what would be at the top of that list? Clearly, as this blog has noted, software security is a major concern. Recently, the Industrial Control System CERT (ICS-CERT) warned about a sophisticated malware campaign targeting users of HMI (human-machine-interface) technology from leading vendors.  In at least some cases, the systems targeted were exposed directly to the Internet, making compromise simple. In other cases, industrial control system software is deployed with default administrator credentials, or easy to guess passwords. In other words: while some attackers are persistent and clever, many critical infrastructure owners make their job pretty easy. So, perhaps, its not software insecurity that belongs at the top of the list, […]

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IoT Security – We’re Doing it Wrong

I spend a lot of time at information security industry events. It’s part of my job at Cisco -visiting customers and attending and speaking at conferences. And these days, many of my conversations are focused on issues surrounding securing the Internet of Things. By and large, I enjoy this immensely. But my experience also gives me a vantage point from which to observe the cyber security and IoT security community broadly. What I’ve concluded is this: ours is a community that is made up of highly gifted and intelligent professionals with diverse, but also specialized skills. Unfortunately, ours has been – and continues to be- an insular community. I’ve come to realize that this pronounced and endemic navel gazing does us and the general public a great disservice. In fact, it may make the job of not repeating the security mistakes of the last two decades more difficult. Can we […]

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DHS Warns Energy Firms Of Malware Used In Targeted Attacks

The Department of Homeland Security warned firms in the energy sector about new, targeted malware infecting industrial control systems and stealing data. DHS’s ICS CERT, the Industrial Control Systems Computer Emergency Response Team, said it is analyzing malware associated with an ICS-focused malware campaign. The malicious software, dubbed “Havex” that was being spread by way of phishing emails and so-called “watering hole” attacks that involved compromises of ICS vendor web sites. DHS was alerted to the attacks by researchers at the security firms Symantec (which dubbed the malware campaign “Dragonfly”) and F-Secure (“Havex”) -a remote access trojan (or RAT) that also acts as an installer (or “downloader”) – fetching other malicious applications to perform specific tasks on compromised networks. One of those additional payloads is a Trojan Horse program dubbed Karagany (by Symantec) that has been liked to prior attacks on energy firms. According to Symantec, the malware targeted energy grid operators, major electricity generation firms, […]

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Traffic Monitoring Tech Vulnerable To Hacking

Connected cars aren’t the only transportation innovation that’s coming down the pike (pun intended). As we’ve noted before: smart roads and smart infrastructure promise even more transformative changes than – say – having Siri read  your text messages to you through your stereo system. The applications of smart road and connected infrastructure are almost limitless. But at this early stage (mostly proof of concept), much of the light and heat around smart roads is around applications of remote sensors at the roadside, or embedded in the road surface to identify problems like icy roads, the presence of liquids, traffic density, vehicle and pedestrian detection and more. For a nice overview of some sensor applications, check out this video from Liebelium. But that doesn’t mean that attacks against smart infrastructure are problems for the future. The security researcher Cesar Cerrudo points out in a blog post over at IOActive.com that many […]

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