nuclear-news

Nuclear power facilities not up to date with today’s cyber threats

Unheeded cybersecurity threat leaves nuclear power stations open to attack , The Conversation, Nasser Abouzakhar October 17, 2015  There has been a rising number of security breaches at nuclear power plants over the past few years, according to a new Chatham House reportwhich highlights how important systems at plants were not properly secured or isolated from the internet.

As critical infrastructure and facilities such as power plants become increasingly complex they are, directly or indirectly, linked to the internet. This opens up a channel through which malicious hackers can launch attacks – potentially with extremely serious consequences. For example, a poorly secured steel mill in Germany was seriously damaged after being hacked, causing substantial harm to blast furnaces after the computer controls failed to shut them down. The notorious malware, theStuxnet worm, was specifically developed to target nuclear facilities.

The report also found that power plants rarely employ an “air gap” (where critical systems are entirely disconnected from networks) as the commercial and practical benefits of using the internet too often trump security…….

The problem is that the industrial communication protocols and mechanisms still commonly used in nuclear power plants were designed in an era before the internet and cyber-threats were a consideration. These are often insecure and not designed to deal with such challenges. Most of the legacy communication protocols such as Profibus, DNP3 andOPC are still vulnerable to various attacks as they lack any proper authentication techniques.

This means that all a malicious hacker might need to get inside a nuclear power station’s network is Google. Using search terms relevant to the software in use in the plant, Google can turn up direct links to websites leading into its network – with little or no security in the way…… https://theconversation.com/unheeded-cybersecurity-threat-leaves-nuclear-power-stations-open-to-attack-49258

October 16, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety