Let’s be clear: the natural gas explosions that rocked the Merrimack Valley north of Boston in September weren’t the result of a cyber attack. Unfortunately: well known vulnerabilities affecting the security of remote sensors and industrial control system software mean they easily could have been.
In this spotlight edition* of The Security Ledger Podcast, Steve Hanna of Infineon joins us to talk about the growing risk of cyber attacks on industrial systems and critical infrastructure. “Industry 4.0” is poised to transform the global economy, Hanna said, but not if the issue of cyber risk can’t be managed. We talk about how that might be done and the need for strong identity and hardware based roots of trust!
Security researchers have uncovered a three-year cyber attack on a Russian oil company that appeared at first glance to be state-sponsored, but later was found to be the work of cyber criminals seeking financial gain. The discovery is a cautionary tale for security experts not to be too rash when when drawing conclusions about high-profile cyber attacks.
In this week’s episode (#120): more than 100,000 U.S. voters submitted their ballots in the last presidential election via email in 2016. Despite that: hardly any attention has been paid to the security of email and online voting systems used by 32 states.
Industrial control systems (ICSs) remain easy targets for nation-states actors because of security gaps such as plain-text passwords, direct Internet connections and weak anti-virus protections, a new report has found.
