http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/foreign-hackers-broke-into-illinois-water-plant-control-system-industry-expert-says/2011/11/18/gIQAgmTZYN_blog.html
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.bb560ae65a071dc80a1c88fdc371ec35.d51&show_article=1
QUOTE: Foreign hackers caused a pump at an Illinois water plant to fail last week, according to a preliminary state report. Experts said the cyber-attack, if confirmed, would be the first known to have damaged one of the systems that supply Americans with water, electricity and other essentials of modern life. Companies and government agencies that rely on the Internet have for years been routine targets of hackers, but most incidents have resulted from attempts to steal information or interrupt the functioning of Web sites. The incident in Springfield, Ill., would mark a departure because it apparently caused physical destruction.
QUOTE #2: "This is arguably the first case where we have had a hack of critical infrastructure from outside the United States that caused damage," Applied Control Solutions managing partner Joseph Weiss told AFP. "That is what is so big about this," he continued. "They could have done anything because they had access to the master station."
One of two things will probably come from this: 1) We'll see many more copy-cat issues that could be far more damaging and/or widespread or 2) It will be a wakeup call that PUTTING IMPORTANT INFRASTRUCTURE CONTROLS ONLINE MAY BE A REALLY STUPID IDEA!
(Glad I got that out of my system...)
What I find myself wondering is, why are the pumps even hooked up to the internet? To me, it is incredibly stupid to connect any sort of critical infrastructure controls to the internet.
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