- Insecure SCADA Systems Blamed in Rash of Pipeline Data Network Attacks
April 4, 2018
After a cyberattack shut down numerous pipeline communication networks this week, experts are stressing the importance of securing third-party systems in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) environments. Over the past two days, various major U.S. pipelines across the country reported data system blackouts after a third-party electronic communication system was attacked. That electronic data interchange ...
- Energy Transfer Says ‘Cyber Attack’ Shut Pipeline Data System
April 3, 2018
A cyber attack that hobbled the electronic communication system used by a major U.S. pipeline network has been overcome. Energy Transfer Partners LP was confident that, after 6 p.m. New York time on Monday, files could safely be exchanged through the EDI platform provided by third-party Energy Services Group LLC, the pipeline company said in a notice. ...
- Insights on industrial vulnerability: How secure is your OT infrastructure?
February 26, 2018
IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) have traditionally had fairly separate roles within an organisation. However, with the emergence of the Industrial Internet and the integration of complex physical machinery with networked sensors and software, the lines between the two teams are blurring. While greater connectivity and integration is beneficial for smart analytics, control and ...
- Plague of the Cyber RATs: How a toxic computer code delivered by ‘Remote Access Trojans’ is an invisible army able to take over a petrochemical plant
February 17, 2018
On a broiling day last August, managers of a huge petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia discovered to their horror that it had been attacked. The consequences could have been catastrophic: the invaders had seized command of its computerised control-and-safety system, and had the power to damage it severely. The attackers carried no guns, explosives, or conventional weapons. Yet ...
- Trisis has the security world spooked, stumped and searching for answers
January 16, 2018
More than four months have passed since a novel, highly sophisticated piece of malware forced an important oil and gas facility in the Middle East to suddenly shut down, but cybersecurity analysts still don’t know who wrote the code. Since last August, multiple teams of researchers in the public and private sectors have been examining what the ...
- Now Meltdown patches are making industrial control systems lurch
January 15, 2018
Patches for the Meltdown vulnerability are causing stability issues in industrial control systems. SCADA vendor Wonderware admitted that Redmond’s Meltdown patch made its Historian product wobble. “Microsoft update KB4056896 (or parallel patches for other Operating System) causes instability for Wonderware Historian and the inability to access DA/OI Servers through the SMC,” an advisory on Wonderware’s support site explains. Read ...
- Mobile SCADA application landscape less secure than in 2015
January 11, 2018
The latest research suggests, within just two years, the security situation for SCADA has got worse to the tune of an average increase of 1.6 vulnerabilities per application tested. IOActive and Embedi security researchers looked at the security of mobile SCADA apps back in 2015 and security was not brilliant. They have now repeated that research, ...
- Triton Malware Targets Industrial Control Systems in Middle East
December 15, 2017
Researchers found malware called Triton on the industrial control systems of a company located in the Middle East. Attackers planted Triton, also called Trisis, with the intent of carrying out a “high-impact attack” against an unnamed company with the goal of causing physical damage, researchers said. FireEye’s Mandiant threat research team revealed the existence of the malware ...
- Why bother cracking PCs? Spot o’ malware on PLCs… Done. Industrial control network pwned
December 12, 2017
Security researchers have demonstrated a new technique for hacking air-gapped industrial control system networks, and hope their work will encourage the development of more robust defences for SCADA-based systems. Air-gapped industrial networks are thought to be difficult if not impossible to hack partly because they are isolated from the internet and corporate IT networks. However, in ...
- IoT devices are an enterprise security time bomb
November 8, 2017
The Internet of Things (IoT) is causing serious security concerns for enterprises worldwide with few companies capable of securing them as they are unable to identify devices properly, according to new research. On Wednesday, ForeScout Technologies revealed the results of a new survey into the challenges IoT poses for the enterprise. The survey, conducted by Forrester Consulting, suggests that ...
- Many Factors Conspire in ICS/SCADA Attacks
August 11, 2017
Critical infrastructure operators can’t be blamed for a perpetual case of whiplash. They are mired between hackers targeting internet-facing and air-gapped systems with equal precision, and vendors and management unwilling to properly tackle security for fear of downtime and incompatibility. “The space of ICS/SCADA has not changed much, so you can find devices running old OSes ...
- Siemens Patches Authentication Bypass Flaw in SiPass Server
July 14, 2017
A handful of vulnerabilities in Siemens’ SiPass integrated server have been patched, including one that allows an attacker to bypass authentication on the box. SiPass is the company’s integrated access control server managing physical access in a number of industries and use cases. The product supports card readers and integrates with video surveillance equipment, among other ...
- Industrial control security practitioners ‘working blind’ to protect their network
July 14, 2017
Four out of 10 industrial control security practitioners don’t have proper visibility into their ICS networks. This is according to a new study by the SANS Institute. Based on a poll of ICS practitioners and cybersecurity stakeholders across various verticals, including energy, manufacturing, oil and gas, the report says that 40 percent of defenders are actually ...
- Intel AMT bug bit Siemens industrial PCs
July 3, 2017
You don’t need state-sponsored hackers to crack industrial control systems, just an empty Intel AMT login – something Siemens started patching against last week. The bug in Intel’s Active Management Technology emerged in June. It allowed a user to exploit AMT features with an empty login string, and has been shipping in processors since 2010. In Siemens’s ...
- Vietnam seeks EU smart city know-how
July 1, 2017
Ho Chi Minh City requires Europe’s experience and solutions to create smart cities, a conference heard on June 30. Speaking at the “Cyber security, Internet of Things and Connected Services towards a smart city” conference, organised by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), Vo Quang Hue, vice chairman of EuroCham, said: “The Smart Cities ...
- Great need to ‘improve’ the cyber security in industrial control systems
June 30, 2017
There is a pressing need to improve cyber security in industrial control system (ICS) environments to avoid future breaches that could impact critical national infrastructure concludes CREST, the not-for-profit accreditation body representing the technical information security industry. This is based on a report, which highlighted a number of challenges and suggests that more technical security testing has ...
- Siemens Patches Vulnerabilities in SIMATIC CP, XHQ
June 23, 2017
Siemens patched two vulnerabilities in products commonly found in industrial control system setups this week. If exploited the flaws could allow an attacker to perform administrative actions or gain read access to sensitive data on affected systems. Siemens patched one issue (.PDF) on Tuesday and the other on Thursday (.PDF) this week. ICS-CERT, the Department of ...
- Targeting the Energy Sector
June 19, 2017
When we think about critical infrastructures, we tend to think about energy. Whether electric power lines or supplies to oil and gas, cut off access to energy, and our worlds go dark. Though you can certainly argue that other industries are just as critical—pharmaceuticals, food supply and others—it is the energy sector that seems to ...
- Dangerous Malware Discovered that Can Take Down Electric Power Grids
June 12, 2017
Last December, a cyber attack on Ukrainian Electric power grid caused the power outage in the northern part of Kiev — the country’s capital — and surrounding areas, causing a blackout for tens of thousands of citizens for an hour and fifteen minutes around midnight. Now, security researchers have discovered the culprit behind those cyber attacks ...
- Infrastructure Software Vulnerabilities Raise Concern Among Cybersecurity Experts
June 9, 2017
Vulnerabilities in software that automates everything from factories to traffic lights has become the nation’s top cybersecurity threat, an agent on the FBI’s Denver Cyber Task Force said Thursday in Colorado Springs. Supervisory control and data acquisition software is used to control — sometimes remotely — many types of devices in the energy, transportation, manufacturing and ...