Iranian hackers 'targeted' New York dam

[EX500rider]

Source: BBC

Iranian hackers penetrated the computers controlling a dam near New York, reveals the Wall Street Journal.
The 2013 attack did no damage but revealed information about how computers running the flood control system worked, said the paper. Hackers working for nation states regularly hit national infrastructure targets, said a separate AP report.
About 12 times in the last decade hackers have won high-level access to power networks, it said.

Extensive information about the Bowman Avenue dam in Rye, New York state was taken by the hackers, experts familiar with the incident told the newspaper.
An investigation pointed to Iran as the likely source of the attack and alerted US authorities to the significant cyber warfare capabilities of that nation, said the report The same group of hackers that attacked Bowman Avenue was also implicated in separate attacks on three US financial firms, it added.
The US power network has also come under regular attack by "sophisticated foreign hackers" said AP in an extensive investigation.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35151492

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Yikes, don't like the sound of that!

[Nictuku]

1. I'm just wondering why this story is 'breaking' right now?

.... before the primaries. It happened in 2013, after stuxnet.

My personal opinion suspects war mongering, to frighten Americans into electing a war monger.

[PeoViejo]

2. Absolutely

You will also note that the same thing happens before critical votes in Congress.

I've been watching it happen for Years.

[trillion]

8. total agreement here.

[leveymg]

3. Probably the same type of Philips industrial controllers we and the Israelis sabotaged in Iran.

Pretty much showed the Iranians how to do it by return mail.

[groundloop]

4. Stuxnet attacked Siemens S7 PLCs, not Philips.... Anyway, I agree with other comments

This sounds like more propaganda intended to scare right wing voters to make sure they get out to vote against whichever librul the Democratic Party nominates.

[jmowreader]

5. Answer this question in a simple and unassuming way...

What purpose is there to put control systems for critical infrastructure on the Internet? There's absolutely no reason for it. If they need to access the dam's control system remotely they could do it over encrypted satellite links, like the lotteries do...which is probably why only one guy has hacked a lottery in the US, and he had to go into the lottery's server room and hand-install the malware from a flash drive.

[groundloop]

6. Ease of maintenance (also, not all remote access is via internet)

Quite often outside vendors are relied upon to do maintenance and modifications on control systems. It's much faster and far less costly to make modifications remotely instead of having to travel to the site. Also, much remote access is via dialup and most of those systems are setup as 'callback' - you dial in and if your phone number is programmed on the sites' modem it will call you back to give you access.

[bananas]

7. From the WSJ article: "as a way to add 'smarts' to U.S. infrastructure"

http://www.wsj.com/articles/iranian-hackers-infiltrated-new-york-dam-in-2013-1450662559

Iranian Hackers Infiltrated New York Dam in 2013

Cyberspies had access to control system of small structure near Rye in 2013, sparking concerns that reached to the White House

By DANNY YADRON
Dec. 20, 2015 8:49 p.m. ET

<snip>

Many of the computers controlling industrial systems are old and predate the consumer Internet. In the early digital days, this was touted as a security advantage. But companies, against the advice of hacking gurus, increasingly brought them online in the past decade as a way to add “smarts” to U.S. infrastructure. Often, they are connected directly to office computer networks, which are notoriously easy to breach.

<snip>

Hackers are believed to have gained access to the dam through a cellular modem, according to an unclassified Homeland Security summary of the case

<snip>

[question everything]

9. Ted Koppel's new book talks about it

The possibility that terrorists or a hostile foreign state could take down the American power grid either by a cyberattack or by an electromagnetic pulse attack is one of those haunting possibilities that keep strategic planners from sleeping peacefully at night. In “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath,” Ted Koppel, one of America’s most experienced and best-known journalists, has attempted to show readers why the danger is real, the degree to which the authorities are unprepared and the steps we can take now to be ready when the power goes down.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/books/review/lights-out-by-ted-koppel.html