DHS To Critical Infrastructure Owners: Hold On To Data After Cyber Attack

The Department of Homeland Security Is Offering Organizations That Use Industrial Control Systems advice or mitigating the effects of cyber attacks. Among the agency’s recommendations: hold on to data from infected systems and prevent enemies from moving within your organization. DHS’s Industrial...

Five Shocking Statistics From The Latest Internet Threat Report

Anti malware company Symantec released its threat report for 2011 on Monday. Buried in the dry statistics about the number of Web based attacks and malicious programs detected during the year are some surprising facts. Among them: religious-themed Web sites are among the dirtiest on the Internet...

Bloody Valentine For Critical Infrastructure: EtherNet/IP Exploit Could Crash Devices

Security researchers made good on a promise to release new exploits for programmable logic controllers PLCs. The exploits include one targeting a flaw in the implementation of the EtherNet/IP Industrial Protocol used in many IP-enabled PLCs. The security hole, if left unaddressed, could enable a...

State of SCADA Security 'Laughable', Researchers Say

CANCUN–For people who follow the developments in the security and research communities, it’s easy to get discouraged by the current state of affairs, given the rash of serious hacks on certificate authorities, military networks and companies such as RSA and VeriSign. But, if you think things are...

Market Fail: Regulations May Be Only Hope For Securing Critical Infrastructure

Threatpost’s exclusive interview with Ralph Langner continues, as our conversation shifts from the legacy of the Stuxnet worm to larger issues facing the critical infrastructure sector including mounting attacks, tensions between vendors and security researchers over responsible disclosure, and...

UPDATE: Why Stuxnet-Like Attacks Aren't Going Away

Ralph Langner is the closest thing to a rock star that you get in the Dockers and pocket-protector world of industrial control systems. The German researcher made headlines in 2010 as among the first security experts to analyze parts of the Stuxnet worm’s code devoted to manipulating programmable...

Slideshow: Scenes from S4 2012

VIEW SLIDESHOW Scenes from S4 2012 S4 is a conference hosted by Digital Bond, a security consulting firm based in Sunrise, Florida. Now in its fifth year, the S4 draws some of the world’s top experts in securing industrial control systems to sunny Miami Beach to discuss the state of the art. Here...

Mapping it out

In his presentation at S4, doctoral student Eireann Leverett presented his research showing how more than 10,000 Internet acccessible industrial control systems can be found online, including HVAC systems, building management systems, PLCs and other industrial systems. Here, Leverett shows a Goog...

Wrapping up the SCADA conference

S4 is a conference hosted by Digital Bond, a security consulting firm based in Sunrise, Florida. Now in its fifth year, the S4 draws some of the world’s top experts in securing industrial control systems to sunny Miami Beach to discuss the state of the art. Press was allowed this year for the fir...

UPDATE: Looking For a 'FireSheep' Moment, Researchers Lay Bare Woeful SCADA Security

Miami, Florida – A no-holds barred presentation at the S4 Conference laid bare the woeful state of security for many industrial control systems that power the world’s critical infrastructure. Organizers have also cooperated with security scanning firms Rapid7 and Tenable to release modules for th...

UPDATE – Stuxnet Expert: Analysis Shows Design Flaw, Not Vulnerability Sunk Siemens

MIAMI–The world’s foremost expert on the Stuxnet worm said an analysis of source code for a critical component of the malware prove that Iran’s nuclear program was the target, and that attackers were able to exploit weak design in Siemens software, rather than having to exploit a software...

MICROSYS PROMOTIC Use After Free Vulnerability

Overview This advisory is a follow-up to ICS-ALERT-11-333-01 - MICROSYS PROMOTIC Use-After-Free Vulnerability, released on the ICS-CERT Web site on November 28, 2011. Independent researcher Luigi Auriemma has identified and released proof of concept code POC for a use after free vulnerability in...

Siemens Says It Will Patch Remote Authentication Holes

After first denying their existence, a Siemens spokesman acknowledged on Thursday that his company was aware of a series of security vulnerabilities in its software that could allow remote attackers to take control of industrial control systems. Siemens issued a statement in response to complaint...

Stuxnet Part II, III and IV

The nation-state sponsored malware arms race is on. Stuxnet may have been the “Shot heard round the world” but we think its likely that 2012 will witness a number of other skirmishes, with malware linked to foreign governments hostile to or allied with U.S. and Western nations infecting and...

Homeland Security Warns SCADA Operators Of Internet-Facing Systems

In the wake of the hack of water and sewer infrastructure operated by a Texas community, the Department of Homeland Security is again warning owners and operators of critical infrastructure to take note of SCADA and industrial control systems that may be accessible from the Internet. DHS’s...

Hacker Claims He Breached Texas Water Plant

A hacker claims to have breached a water utility in Texas and has posted reputed screenshots online to prove it. The water plant targeted by the hacker, who uses the alias “Pr0f”, is in the Harris County city of South Houston. In a post on Pastebin, Pr0f said his actions were in response to what ...

Computerized Prison doors hacked with vulnerabilities used by Stuxnet worm

Computerized Prison doors hacked with vulnerabilities used by Stuxnet worm Security holes in the computer systems of federal prisons in the United States can effectively allow hackers to trigger a jailbreak by remote control. The discovery of the Stuxnet worm has alerted governments around the...

Computerized Prison doors hacked with vulnerabilities used by Stuxnet worm

Computerized Prison doors hacked with vulnerabilities used by Stuxnet worm Security holes in the computer systems of federal prisons in the United States can effectively allow hackers to trigger a jailbreak by remote control. The discovery of the Stuxnet worm has alerted governments around the...

Researchers Warn of Prison Hacks, Opening Cell Doors

Remote hackers springing inmates from their jail cells — it sounds like a plot lifted from an old episode of “24” or “Prison Break.” But authorities are concerned by new research that claims such an attack is feasible. Research presented at the Hacker Halted conference in Miami last month by John...

Researchers Warn of Prison Hacks, Opening Cell Doors

In news that seems like it could be lifted from an old 24 or Prison Break plotline, authorities are concerned by new research that claims hackers could remotely open the cell doors of federal prisons. In addition to staging a jailbreak, hackers could sabotage a prison’s intercom system and...