Comments on: US utility sabotage blamed on Russian hackers

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Do you have any evidence that it wasn’t North Korea framing the U.S. so it could continue its nuclear program while at the same time slowing the nuclear weapon production of an unstable nation?

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:11:00 +0000

“…political class* with only one goal: find problems and solve them in full view of the voting electorate, or stand to lose their jobs.”If they were doing little meaningful work they would still be hired because that is the way the government is set up. Plus, there is already plenty of problems to solved. All of debates haven’t gotten us anywhere, so the issues they are working on now will last them till the end of time. To make matters worse new problems will come up due to new technology.
Rob Romero wanted it to be isolated from the internet just like you do, but to increase efficiency interconnecting systems should be done. This is possible without exposing them to the net by encrypted tunneling.

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:18:00 +0000

Power plant.

Springfield.Priceless.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:27:00 +0000

We need more Homer working in our power plant.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:16:00 +0000

And if you have to, for cryin out loud, do *not* allow contractors/vendors remote access!!

By: Richard Townsend

Richard Townsend — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:15:00 +0000

Possibly, but the Army Corps of Engineers is capable of screwing them up without any outside help.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:12:00 +0000

Then that’s a huge problem and something that is *not* acceptable in today’s world. Either correct the problem or get it disconnected from the internet. Plain and simple. A system that antiquated should not be hooked into an external network. Period.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:35:00 +0000

Yes, and which two countries released the Stuxnet virus and started the entire race to hack and destroy industrial systems and equipment? Israel and the USA. As is usual in these cases, there will be quite a bit of “blow back.” Hackers have already reverse engineered the Stuxnet code, to create a new generation of viruses, aimed at industrial control systems. Thank you CIA, for protecting us so well.

By: Mrpizza

Mrpizza — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:35:00 +0000

False flag

By: First Name

First Name — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Why? To test our security.

By: First Name

First Name — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:29:00 +0000

“Crumbling infrastructure”… funny, I would say that connecting a public utility to the internet was the direct result of “investing in infrastructure”. I can guarantee you that 50+ years ago it WASN’T connected to the internet.

You’re suggesting that we throw more money at a problem that should never have been “solved” in the first place. No, what should happen immediately is that the individuals that felt they needed an internet connection to do their jobs should be layed off and replaced. This is a public utility. The fundamental characteristics of the job haven’t changed in the last 50 years, so what in specific was the benefit for changing now and opening up this gaping security hole?

I know it’s hard to understand since we all always want to feel that the congressmen and women that we personally elected are doing useful things for us but, let’s be honest, the situation right now is that we have a near-permanent political class* with only one goal: find problems and solve them in full view of the voting electorate, or stand to lose their jobs. I think anyone that thinks about that observation for more than a few seconds can see that someone in that position would start creating problems when they run out of problems to solve. Psychologically speaking that kind of response is normal and well within human nature, but that doesn’t make it healthy for our country.

* Case in point, Teddy Kennedy’s career ending only with his death which arguably had very little to do with his party affiliation given Scott Brown (R) replacing him.
** Look up EU’s “bendy banana” regulation or their recent assertion that drinking water is inconsistent with not being dehydrated for more great examples of politicians trying ever so hard to justify the worth of their continued electoral existence.

By: Callismabyer

Callismabyer — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:03:00 +0000

As was stated in the article, it is typical for SCADA system passwords to be hardcoded into the system, meaning they can not easily be changed…

By: Leon Hatcher

Leon Hatcher — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:46:00 +0000

what about this was a pratice for neauclear same thing ?

By: Lakeview Native

Lakeview Native — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:20:00 +0000

I am wondering if the pumps that are vital to the city of New Orleans during a hurricane or heavy downpour are vuneralble to such an attack?

By: Tjkka

Tjkka — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:05:00 +0000

Was this power cycling the same method used to destroy the centrifuge in Iran.

By: Richard Townsend

Richard Townsend — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:57:00 +0000

2 words, Red Flag. We will probably see many more of these perceived dangers, from a wide variety of causes, as we approach the next scheduled presidential election.

By: Stephen Linhart

Stephen Linhart — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:45:00 +0000

The poster below wasn’t saying hacking creates jobs. He was saying maintaining and updating our infrastructure creates jobs.

By: bigboots

bigboots — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:36:00 +0000

I’m a little confused as to why the network credentials were not changed when they were originally stolen from the industrial software developer. And… why the heck were they running an antiquated security protocol that doesn’t automatically update the credentials??? WTF…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:16:00 +0000

The thing that worries me the most is that our government agencies have a long history of putting out
messages intended to pacify legitimate public anxiety. The Cold War with its extensive atmospheric
testing of nuclear weapons began this trend as citizens expressed legitimate concerns about radiation
exposure (note all the Japanese government messages trying to calm the public since the Fukushima
disaster and the NRC in this country claiming U.S. nuclear reactors are problem-free when they are
not). Now, we have definite evidence of cyberwarfare (to which our infrastructure is clearly vulnerable),
but instead of launching appropriate efforts to address these vulnerabilities, we have the DHS spokesman issuing the usual calming statements of “no credible corroborated data” indicating a
threat to public safety. Today’s news indicates our government’s satisfaction that the loya jirga in
Afghanistan has backed our plan to maintain our military forces there for ten years BEYOND the
withdrawal date set by Obama, which will cost U.S. taxpayers billions. Why is it we can maintain 700+
military bases around the world, and stay in Afghanistan for ten more years, at vast expense, but we cannot start protecting our own infrastructure against cyber attack, which is surely on its way? Our
government’s priorities DO NOT include protecting our own territory and its people, no matter what
DHS says. Having the world’s largest military force did not protect the World Trade Center on 9/11
and our government’s behavior since then has merely turned the U.S. into a police state and
eviscerated the First Amendment. I think Americans need to wake up and start hounding our so-called
elected representatives for effective action against cyberwarfare before it is too late.

By: lester bernum

lester bernum — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:16:00 +0000

I hate that fking claim that ‘oh, this will build more jobs’. I see it in graffiti and hear it from prepubescent teens who want to rationalize their mild nefarious deeds. They did it to see if they can do it. Grow a pair and take on something that might not hurt a community. How about attempts to hack China’s computers? Their stated-paid ‘non-state-sponsored’ hackers are a pain in the ass to everyone. Go and play with the big boys.

By: No

No — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:04:00 +0000

Ya I’m sure thus exactly what the FBI did too.

By: Knockenbrocker

Knockenbrocker — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:04:00 +0000

Your comments simplicity breaches ignorance. I’m sure the gov agencies didn’t check either, oh and irn2computers, if I posted four or more proxies that are residential units you would never find me, or my ‘packets’

By: Rob Romero

Rob Romero — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:15:00 +0000

. . . and we might even create a few jobs playing catch up. Weird.

(Invest in and build up crumbling infrastructure) = (more jobs)

By: Rob Romero

Rob Romero — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:12:00 +0000

This was clearly a proof of concept for whoever was responsible. It worked. Someone out there found a vulnerability and exploited it. There are move vulnerabilities to be found and exploited. It is time that we get SERIOUS as a nation in protecting our CRITICAL infrastructure. At the very least, these networks need to be isolated from the internet, and interconnected through encrypted tunneling. The technology is out there and has been for years.

. . . and we might even create a few jobs playing catch up. Weird.

(Invest in and build up crumbling infrastructure) = (more jobs)

By: Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:09:00 +0000

Once again we see blowback from the US attacks on Iran for Israeli interests. We patted ourselves on the back by creating the Stuxnet worm. Now we see that we have given our enemies new ways to harm us as we are a nation that relies on computers to run everything. The history of the world is one of some party making a new weapon that becomes a common item.

(Please go to the Facebook “Wall Street Protest” page.)

By: SH1T W1Z@RD

SH1T W1Z@RD — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Does anyone remember Die Hard 3? Our reliance on technology has been pushing us toward something like this for a long, long time. Ask yourself this – what do you do when your lights don’t work anymore? What if you have no access to clean, drinkable water? What are the authorities going to be doing to prevent widespread pandemonium while they’re scratching their heads wondering, “well how the hell did this happen?”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:44:00 +0000

If this system is connected to the internet, or any public network in general then there needs to be a massive clean out of personnel. That is seriously idiotic.

Best method to prevent remote hacks – don’t connect systems to public networks

By: Fred Barnes

Fred Barnes — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:24:00 +0000

What you all fail to see is the simple “middle of no where” test by foreign hackers. Scada controlled systems are used by many utilities to control switches, breakers, valves and many other pieces of equipment that control your daily conveniences that we all take for granted. When the utilities go out because someone turned them off remotely, that’s a matter of national security an this no joke. If you have no electricity, no gas, no water, no telephone or Internet…. Over the entire country….. Guess what. No you have a big problem. Take it seriously

By: Irish-thom

Irish-thom — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:23:00 +0000

Why are usernames and passwords hard-coded to the hardware? What naive lazy children designed this? Please fire those who live by the maxim ‘good enough for government work. ‘

By: Bobhansen

Bobhansen — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:22:00 +0000

This simply a Russian test to see if their tactics work, not a desire to harm this particular facility.

By: Larvamu

Larvamu — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:11:00 +0000

Did the packets originate in russia or was that simply part of the packets route?
I wouldnt be suprised if the plant managers simply pulled up the ip log, saw a russian ip and ended the investigation there.

By: Whassup with this

Whassup with this — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:04:00 +0000

“using network credentials stolen from an industrial software developer” How did they steal this?

By: Jjtweets

Jjtweets — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Maybe the cia is involved and they’reblaming the russians

By: J. H.

J. H. — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:14:00 +0000

“I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it would help…”

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:44:00 +0000

ok if all this pile of sh…is true…. why the gov computers that control hardware are connected to INTERNET!!!! to control them from home? :-)

By: Max

Max — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Now who’s gonna beleive this pile of horse shit?
that’s all I can say is it really stinks.

Ron Paul 2012

By: Dwhitaker4

Dwhitaker4 — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:22:00 +0000

Why would Russians attack a utility pump in Springfield, Illinois? Could this be an ordinary computer glitch?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:17:00 +0000

Maybe they were trying to sabotage the nuclear plant where Homer Simpson works.

By: sees_through_the_lies

sees_through_the_lies — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:47:00 +0000

Big words for “may have”.