Researchers find federal prisons vulnerable to Stuxnet-like hacking

Industrial control systems like those targeted by Stuxnet are actually used in many places, including our federal prisons. As a result, a research team recently found the security systems could be hacked to open cell doors, overload and freeze them, or even shut down the CCTV. Although the prison's SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems shouldn't have internet access, they are often thoughtlessly connected to allow software updates or email access, and that oversight allowed former CIA operations officer John Strauchs's team to put together the hack in a basement for less than $2,500. The research was presented to the CIA before going public and independently confirmed by t... »read more

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