Editor’s Note: The original “Hacking the Industrial Network” (Part I) was first published by IndustryWeek in the Spring of 2009. This article, Part II, is the summary of what has happened since the original publication, and the outcome of predictions which first appeared in Part I.
A Clear and Present Danger
The worms Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame have been captured, quarantined, dissected and studied in captivity. The worm segments have been analyzed and published in reports, whitepapers, blogs, chats and bulletin boards. Unfortunately, the result of all the published scrutiny is that the building blocks of Stuxnet exploit code are out there and available to be used to potentially harm the rest of us. A knowledgeable hacker can use those bits and pieces like modular building blocks to create newer, better malware.
 Summary of Critical Infrastructure Incident Reports to ICS-CERT, 2012 |
The hacking incidents listed in “Hacking the Industrial Network” (Part I) spanned 12 years and contained 29 publicly reported incidents. The hacking incidents specifically listed here in Part II span only 4 years and contains over 55 notably disturbing incidents affecting thousands of companies. The pandemic rate of infection is accelerating.
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