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A computer virus attacked a turbine control system at a U.S. power company last fall when a technician unknowingly inserted an infected USB computer drive into the network, keeping a plant off line for three weeks, according to a report posted on a U.S. government website.
The Department of Homeland Security report did not identify the plant but said criminal software, which is used to conduct financial crimes such as identity theft, was behind the incident.
It was introduced by an employee of a third-party contractor that does business with the utility, according to the agency.
Interest in the area has surged since 2010 when the Stuxnet computer virus was used to attack Iran's nuclear program. Although the United States and Israel were widely believed to be behind Stuxnet, experts believe that hackers may be copying the technology to develop their own viruses.
criminal software, which is used to conduct financial crimes such as identity theft, was behind the incident.
Many critical infrastructure control systems run on Windows XP and Windows 2000, operating systems that were designed more than a decade ago.
Nice find and all I can say is that USB drives should not be allowed in any sensitive operations like in your thread.
Three weeks to clean up one to a few PCs?
Originally posted by UberL33t
reply to post by roadgravel
Three weeks to clean up one to a few PCs?
Yeah I found that odd. Back in my hay day, I would get nailed with a virus (old IRC play days), OS went kah-put, I was reformatted and back in a matter of hours with a fresh install. Of course I had back-ups so it made the task much simpler.
They do create back-ups...right?
Originally posted by UberL33t
...unknowingly inserted an infected USB computer drive into the network...
Originally posted by buffetw
The system altered was not a windows based application. 100'S of millions have been spent on security since then. Linux is used to check any flash drives allowed inside and it's very rare with extensive security checks. It's like Fort Knox now.
The system altered was not a windows based application. 100'S of millions have been spent on security since then. Linux is used to check any flash drives allowed inside and it's very rare with extensive security checks. It's like Fort Knox now.