Windows tax.
Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
11–20 of 45 posts
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#12Aluminium plants are particularly vulnerable because the electrolysis "pots" must be kept hot, requiring a continuous supply of electricity. Supply interruptions can be a disaster. This has hit Venezuela badly: https://twitter.com/AKurmanaev/status/1104141813936545793 "Today Venezuela basically crossed off an entire industry. In one day. No more industrial aluminum production. Just like that. It’s gone." https://www.…
These seems like systems where the impact of disruption is so severe that it should be effectively offline as much as possible.
Now the power source of course... hard to manage that.
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#13Aluminium plants are particularly vulnerable because the electrolysis "pots" must be kept hot, requiring a continuous supply of electricity. Supply interruptions can be a disaster. This has hit Venezuela badly: https://twitter.com/AKurmanaev/status/1104141813936545793 "Today Venezuela basically crossed off an entire industry. In one day. No more industrial aluminum production. Just like that. It’s gone." https://www.…
These seems like systems where the impact of disruption is so severe that it should be effectively offline as much as possible. Now the power source of course... hard to manage that.
I think I read once that the last-ditch effort in case of power blackout is heating the ovens with gravity-fed kerosene burners to keep them from going titsup.
No source, though.
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#14They should make it illegal to pay ransoms.
Were the affected systems running Windows? They should make it illegal to run critical systems on Windows.
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#15They should make it illegal to pay ransoms.
Right now the FBI's advice for companies that get critical systems crypto locked is to just pay the ransom.
https://securityledger.com/2015/10/fbis-advice-on-cryptolock...
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#16Aluminium plants are particularly vulnerable because the electrolysis "pots" must be kept hot, requiring a continuous supply of electricity. Supply interruptions can be a disaster. This has hit Venezuela badly: https://twitter.com/AKurmanaev/status/1104141813936545793 "Today Venezuela basically crossed off an entire industry. In one day. No more industrial aluminum production. Just like that. It’s gone." https://www.…
Thankfully the smelting can apparently be controlled manually. According to this article[0] all Hydro plants are still running 24/7, but now using paper, pencils, and calculators.
0: (In norwegian) https://e24.no/boers-og-finans/norsk-hydro/dataangrepet-lamm...
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#17They should make it illegal to pay ransoms.
They'll find a way. Pay for consulting, pay from personal funds etc etc. Companies need to go back to work ASAP, ransom is a small cost of doing business.
I cant find the story anymore, but I seem to recall that at peak crypto locker there was a 'consulting company' that would fix this for you without you having to pay the attackers. Instead you paid the consultants double the extorted amount, and then they paid on your behalf.
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#18Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#19Aluminium plants are particularly vulnerable because the electrolysis "pots" must be kept hot, requiring a continuous supply of electricity. Supply interruptions can be a disaster. This has hit Venezuela badly: https://twitter.com/AKurmanaev/status/1104141813936545793 "Today Venezuela basically crossed off an entire industry. In one day. No more industrial aluminum production. Just like that. It’s gone." https://www.…
I was wondering how a power outage could be so disruptive and found this article, if anyone else is interested.
https://www.aluminiumtoday.com/contentimages/features/Oyeweb...
You get all sorts of problems, including from freeze-thaw[0] damage to the pots, the electrodes get oxidized, and the plant itself isn't fit to work in due to CO buildup (no fans!).
[0] It's weird to see freezing damage occurring at 900˚C, but I guess that is what happens.
Re: Norsk Hydro ASA Suffers Extensive Cyber Attack
#20They should make it illegal to pay ransoms.
Were the affected systems running Windows? They should make it illegal to run critical systems on Windows.
Ah the immunity of non-Microsoft operating systems:
https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/osxshlayer-new-mac-...
https://www.zdnet.com/article/eset-discovers-21-new-linux-ma...