US Government Warns Of 'Ongoing' Hacks Targeting Nuclear and Power Industries (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Reuters: The U.S government issued a rare public warning that sophisticated hackers are targeting energy and industrial firms, the latest sign that cyber attacks present an increasing threat to the power industry and other public infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation warned in a report distributed by email late on Friday that the nuclear, energy, aviation, water and critical manufacturing industries have been targeted along with government entities in attacks dating back to at least May. The agencies warned that hackers had succeeded in compromising some targeted networks, but did not identify specific victims or describe any cases of sabotage. The objective of the attackers is to compromise organizational networks with malicious emails and tainted websites to obtain credentials for accessing computer networks of their targets, the report said.
According to the report, the Department of Homeland Security "has confidence that this campaign is still ongoing and threat actors are actively pursuing their objectives over a long-term campaign."

Comments

Well..

[fluffernutter]

Isn't it too bad we do nothing but discourage intelligent local grads from going into the IT industry, by making it clear that salaries and compensation in the industry are to be limited by the economies of the very people who are attacking us.

Re:Well..

[blindseer]

What, precisely, did we do to these nations? I mean, why do you believe that they are attacking us?

The USA has a large enough military to crush any nation it chooses and yet we don't. We have embassies all over the world, like any other nation. If some nation has a grievance against us they can start talks in these embassies in their own nation or that of a neutral third party. Have you actually listened to their demands?

These nations don't ask that we leave them alone. They want us dead. Take North Korea as an example, what do they want? The Kim family wants to rule the world, and they can't do that so long as we have our troops in South Korea and Japan. Take your pick of Muslim nations, what do they want? They want the world to bow to Mecca. That's not going to happen so long as America is able to defend itself. What about Russia? They want to restore the Soviet Union, where the sun never sets on their empire.

The USA is hated because we live free from their rule. They attack us over the internet because they cannot drop bombs on our heads. We've been fighting off Muslim invaders since before America was even a nation. The Barbary Wars were fought to keep these Muslims from taking American ships and enslaving the passengers and crew. They attacked us because they attacked everyone that didn't pay tribute.

Tell me, how should the only megapower on Earth be acting right now? What do you believe we should be doing to stop their attacks? I believe these attacks will not stop so long as free people stand to oppose communism and Islam. We can stop the attacks but that would mean destroying them or submitting to their rule. I don't like the status quo but it's better than the alternatives.

Re:Well..

[rmdingler]

You can't make all the other nations behave by just being nice.

That's as true a statement as You can't make all the other nations behave.

What we could do better is lead by example. The US is a microcosm of the World as a whole: many different nationalities, religions, races, ideas, and belief sets. I'd say working to make the melting pot work, instead of crippling ourselves with rabid partisan infighting, would be a great first step.

If it can't be done here, in this unprecedented era of peace and prosperity, the World's prospects are bleak.

It really is a shame!!

[EzInKy]

The US has been waging war against its citizenry since its inception. Free thought itself is even outlawed in its very Constitution. Read Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 if you don't believe the government doesn't want to regulate freedom of thought in the country.

Re:Pull that cable!

[thegarbz]

Pulling the cable makes something more secure. It drastically diminishes the number of potential intruders.

Not necessarily. Quite often pulling the cable makes everything less secure as it breeds a culture of complacency at best and breeds a better kind of idiot at worst. Pulling a cable is absolutely no substitute for actually having security thought through in the organisation, and I'll take well thought out firewall / VPN infrastructure any day over the pull the cable approach which by its nature necessitates bypassing the airgap.

Anything that doesn't need to be on the Internet shouldn't have a connection, so instead of a good firewall, you should chose the best firewall.

You've lost. Everything needs a network connection somewhere, and every network eventually needs a connection to the internet. The key is segregation in the design stage. Otherwise you'll end up with what we call box-rot, a set of computer systems isolated constantly being connected to and from with various mechanisms or best yet, ignored completely with security issues more wide open than a $2 hooker.

This 'need to be networked' thing is nice on paper

That paper is often one of the following:
- Legal requirement
- Technical limitation
- Geographical limitation
- Operational limitation

Most organisations would be unable to operate a local compressor without some access to a wider network let alone a country wide wind farm, energy grid, etc.

If you think everything has to be on the Internet, then in your words 'you are an idiot'.

But I repeat myself: Oh I see now you don't actually work in the industry.