Fergie's Tech Blog

DefCon: Flaw Exposes SCADA Hack Threat

An AP newswire article by Jordan Robertson, via MSNBC, reports that:

Terrorists and other criminals could exploit a newly discovered software flaw to hijack massive computer systems used to control critical infrastructure like oil refineries, power plants and factories, a researcher said Saturday.

Ganesh Devarajan, a security researcher with 3Com Corp.'s TippingPoint in Austin, Texas, demonstrated the software vulnerability he uncovered to attendees at the Defcon hacker conference on computer security.

The software is used to manage supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems — computers that regulate the functioning of such important infrastructure as oil and gas pipelines, water treatment and power transmission facilities and the giant factories used by large technology companies.

The flaw could crash certain SCADA computer systems, particularly older ones, Devarajan said. The intrusion works by attacking sensors within the facilities that are linked to the Internet through unencrypted connections.

posted by Fergie @ 8/05/2007 10:05:00 AM