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New York City Pushes Plan To Prevent Cyberattacks On Elevators, Boilers

Posted by timothy on from the what-about-egg-poachers-and-escalators? dept.

coondoggie writes "Imagine what would happen if an attacker broke into the network for the industrial control systems for New York City's elevators and boiler systems and decided to disrupt them, imperiling the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents relying on them. Think it could never happen? Think again. 'You could increase the speed of how elevators go up or down,' says Steve Ramirez, business analyst, analysis and communications in the Office of the CIO of the New York City Housing Authority, which provides public housing for low- to moderate-income families in the five boroughs of the city. And if attackers ever successfully penetrated the network-based industrial control systems for the boilers, they could raise the heat levels for municipal boilers, causing them to explode." Maybe Bruce Schneier could run a new movie-scenario contest about ways this could play out.

4 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. DUMB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These systems shouldn't be network accessible anyway.
    !!!

    1. Re:DUMB by spazdor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And even if they are, why on earth would they have software-configurable speeds or pressures that can range outside of safe parameters? The safety limits should be hard-coded.

      --
      DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
    2. Re:DUMB by crashumbc · · Score: 5, Informative

      They aren't the writer is a idiot. Boiler's have MULTIPLE safeties that will just them down locally.

      Not to mention mechanically pressure release devices, at worst they would vent boiler water onto the boiler room floor...

  2. Does this guy even know anything about this? by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Boilers have release valves for a reason. Even if you could turn the heat all the way up the safety release valves would let go. You would have to weld those shut to explode a boiler. If the "evil-doers" are welding those shut you have other problems