Hacking Group Linked To Chinese Army Caught Attacking Dummy Water Plant

holy_calamity writes "MIT Technology Review reports that APT1, the China-based hacking group said to steal data from U.S. companies, has been caught taking over a decoy water plant control system. The honeypot mimicked the remote access control panels and physical control system of a U.S. municipal water plant. The decoy was one of 12 set up in 8 countries around the world, which together attracted more than 70 attacks, 10 of which completely compromised the control system. China and Russia were the leading sources of the attacks. The researcher behind the study says his results provide the first clear evidence that people actively seek to exploit the many security problems of industrial systems."

Comments

Re:InSANE -- why...?!!!

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There are a lot of upsides to putting controls systems on the net. Not applauding it, just sayin'. I wrote a blog article about it; here 'tis.

Re:hacked by chinese

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RTFA. Yes, IP addresses are easily spoofed, and provide essentially no information on the target. That is, in fact, why more information than that was gathered, using the nature of the honeypot in question to gather additional data from the attacking machines. I suspect that it would be possible to configure your system and network in such a way as to spoof the nature of your own local network configuration so that a counterattack of this nature would reveal misleading information about your locality... but the nature of the attacks, and the response to them, make this exceedingly unlikely. tldr; yeah, it was people in China and Russia, and there's proof. Still doesn't mean that their governments were involved, of course.

US Chamber of Commerce Supports Hackers

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Nice to know that the Republicans and the US Chamber of Commerce are supporting Chinese and Russian hackers testing cyber-warfare against our critical infrastructure. Because we all know that left to their own devices corporations always put public welfare ahead of short term profit.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/03/nation/la-na-cyber-security-20120803

U.S. Chamber of Commerce leads defeat of cyber-security bill

Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency, and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among those who pressed for a White House-backed cyber-security bill to regulate privately owned crucial infrastructure, such as electric utilities, chemical plants and water systems.

If the senators didn't act, they argued, it would make it harder to stop hackers, criminals and hostile nations from wreaking unimaginable havoc, such as knocking out sections of New York City's electrical grid for days during a summer heat wave. But theU.S. Chamber of Commerceand other business groups strenuously opposed the measure, condemning it as excessive government interference in the free market and arguing that cumbersome federal regulations could hamper companies trying to defend against cyber intrusions.

Democrats overwhelmingly supported the legislation, but for Republicans, it meant a stark choice between competing constituencies: national security officials and business leaders. Even after the bill's backers made the standards voluntary, the Chamber of Commerce, which spends more on lobbying than any other trade group, opposed it.

On Thursday, the Senate cyber-security bill failed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster. Analysts say the bill couldn't breach a wall of anti-regulatory sentiment that proved resistant to the dire warnings.

The measure fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to end debate, 52 to 46, with 40 Republicans joined by six Democrats voting in support of the filibuster.

"Rarely have I been so disappointed in the Senate's failure to come to grips with a threat to our country," said Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and one of the bill's chief sponsors, who had tried in vain to sway her GOP colleagues. Just four sided with her.

But theU.S. Chamber of Commerceand other business groups strenuously opposed the measure, condemning it as excessive government interference in the free market and arguing that cumbersome federal regulations could hamper companies trying to defend against cyber intrusions.