German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
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Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#2I found that part much more .. interesting:
> As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit.
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#3I found that part much more .. interesting: > As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit.
What....? Seriously, wtf? Is it really that hard to provide outlets to charge your phone?
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#4I found that part much more .. interesting: > As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit.
The next sentence pretty much confirms my impression that this claim is almost certainly bullshit:
> Because the plane runs a different operating system, nothing would befall it. But it would pass the virus on to other devices that plugged into the charger.
That's just...not how computers work.
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#5I found that part much more .. interesting: > As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit.
The next sentence pretty much confirms my impression that this claim is almost certainly bullshit: > Because the plane runs a different operating system, nothing would befall it. But it would pass the virus on to other devices that plugged into the charger. That's just...not how computers work.
I could maybe understand it if it was a USB hub, and the phones all had a defect that meant rogue USB signals could infect them. So if 2 people plugged into the same hub at the same time, it could spread.
But if the claim is that the virus lie 'dormant' in the uninfectable plane OS, then I can't understand that.
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#6I wonder what scale of disaster will have to occur before information security is placed under the same legal and regulatory scrutiny as physical security?
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#7I found that part much more .. interesting: > As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit.
The next sentence pretty much confirms my impression that this claim is almost certainly bullshit: > Because the plane runs a different operating system, nothing would befall it. But it would pass the virus on to other devices that plugged into the charger. That's just...not how computers work.
nice catch. can't help but think of Independence Day when Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith infect alien mothership with a mac virus from a 3.5 floppy which specifically disabled its protective shield. "will give it a cold"
Edit: corrected it's its
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#8I found that part much more .. interesting: > As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit.
The next sentence pretty much confirms my impression that this claim is almost certainly bullshit: > Because the plane runs a different operating system, nothing would befall it. But it would pass the virus on to other devices that plugged into the charger. That's just...not how computers work.
If behind the USB port is some (writeable) data storage (for PDF manuals etc) this is quite possible.
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
The next sentence pretty much confirms my impression that this claim is almost certainly bullshit: > Because the plane runs a different operating system, nothing would befall it. But it would pass the virus on to other devices that plugged into the charger. That's just...not how computers work.
nice catch. can't help but think of Independence Day when Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith infect alien mothership with a mac virus from a 3.5 floppy which specifically disabled its protective shield. "will give it a cold" Edit: corrected it's its
'it is protective shield?'. That's what you've written in effect.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/its-vs-its
Re: German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says
#10Possibly important to note the timing of this admission right on the heels of the announcement of our defense minister that she wants to build a 'cyber' division in the army with 13500 people working there. Thats almost 10% of our armed forces.
I could only find decent reporting about this in german: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/plaene-der-verteidigungsm...