Ski Lift In Austria Left Control Panel Open On the Internet (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Officials from the city of Innsbruck in Austria have shut down a local ski lift after two security researchers found its control panel open wide on the Internet, and allowing anyone to take control of the ski lift's operational settings. There was no authentication in place, and anyone accessing the control panel could have modified the ski lift's speed, the distance between cable cars, and cable tension.

Coincidentally, researchers discovered the ski lift's control panel on the same day that NBC ran a report about a ski lift system suffering a mechanical malfunction, going at crazy speeds, and injuring 10 people. Both ski lifts were from the same vendor, but researchers say they weren't aware of the NBC report when they stumbled upon the one in Austria. Innsbruck officials shut down the ski lift for a security audit, and the ski lift is still nonoperational today.

Comments

They say

[Tablizer]

I hear it got infected by the S0nnyB0n0 virus.

Re:They say

[Anonymous Coward]

I hear it got infected by the S0nnyB0n0 virus.

Thanks for Cher-ing that.

Re:Why does this need Internet

[vtcodger]

So, the repair person flies to the nearest large city, drives a rental car 70km at 25kph through a raging blizzard, hangs out for 45 minutes while the ski area finds someone who can open up the ski rental area, finds skis and boots that don't fit too badly, slogs 500 meters through the ongoing blizzard to get to the control shed ... Only to find that someone has changed the standard password. ... and that there is no cellphone service available at the control shed.

Sounds like a giant leap forward for mankind to me.