Iranian hackers managed to access the control system of a NY dam in 2013, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
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The previously undisclosed breach happened during a spate of attacks on U.S. banks which were linked to Iran’s government.
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Unlike a conventional war, a cyber attack can be hard to track.
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It’s scary enough that much of our infrastructure is connected to the internet somehow, and that, as the WSJ notes, it’s all pretty much hanging out there insecurely. Hacking gurus warned against deploying these outdated computer systems. Instead, the hackers studied the system and its operation.
“Everything is being integrated, which is great, but it’s not very secure”, Cesar Cerrudo, an Argentine researcher and chief technology officer at IOActive Labs, a security-consulting firm, tells the Journal. He showed a hacker conference in Las Vegas past year how easily he can manipulate traffic lights in big USA cities.
An attack on a German industrial-controlled system occurred last December, with hackers causing “serious damage” to a German steel mill and wrecking one of its blast furnaces.
Homeland Security spokesman S.Y. Lee would not confirm the breach to Reuters. The incident remains classified, the official said.
Investigators believe the intruders were just probing to see what they could get into but no damage was done.
“During a congressional hearing in February, National Intelligence Director James Clapper described Iranian hackers as motivated and unpredictable cyber actors”. The small dam is located about 20 miles from New York City and is used for flood control. The hackers probed the system but did not take control of it.
According to the Rye Daily Voice, Rye City Manager Marcus Serrano stated the city cooperated with an U.S. Department of Homeland Investigation into the incident in 2013. The hackers appeared to be focusing on certain internet addresses, according to the people.
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The information on the hack was passed along to the White House, Wall Street Journal reported.
