Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Doesn't surprise me a bit.

Doubtful ANY country has any reactor primary or secondary plant *controls* that use Windows or any other publicly accessible OS.
The OS would be proprietary to the equipment and Classified.
[Would be more like a firmware than an OS.]

Something like SCADA might be used for power use data logging [the grid] or to run the HVAC in the office areas, but that's about it in the US.

I suppose these villains could turn on the heat in the summer and piss-off the office pukes.
THE HORROR!

.

[willawake]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

iran's bushehr electricity production hits two month delay

atomic chief salehi says delay is the result of severe hot weather not the computer worm that hit staff computers earlier this week.

[ddscentral]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Some reading on ZDNet.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/i...09?tag=nl.e539

[willawake]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

It is difficult to understand the real world actions without knowing what is connected on the inputs and outputs [of the PLCs]

like anything man. its the universal automation solution

this is the future of war
its only a test drive

its funny on the boats some of the new ones have touch screen control of all sorts of shit running on some non enterprise pc and many times its not working

[stj]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

boats should not use touchscreens - nothing critical should.
i work on touchscreen stuff sometimes and unless it's acoustic they can go way out of calibration if they get contaminated.
i'm not sure you can use acoustic screens in boats or anything else with low levels of resonance either.

[BigTroll]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

I like Rancho Seco, ive visited it, its very pretty and i love Babcox and Wilcox reactors.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Decommissioned in '89.
NIMBY is why we are so dependent on oil.

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

How good is Palo Verde in Arizona? A few years ago, they were on the NRC watch list.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Depends on what you mean by: "How good".
They would have had to tried REALLY HARD to find a more stupid place to put a plant.
As far as the Watch List, they were back off it over a year ago.

"NRC Watch List."
All that really means is they get inspected more often and more stringently but that in itself is a really big deal.
Civilan plants come under the NRC. Navy plants come under NR [Naval Reactors] which mirrors and is authorized by the NRC but more hard assed.
[Civilian plants don't bounce around on the ocean and aren't designed to be bombed and take missile hits without breaking and the staff isn't trained how to render the plant and ship useless [and yet not hazardous] in the event of imminent capture.]

If the NRC 'watch list' inspection cycle is similar to NRs equivalent status then that means 3x to 4x more inspections which works out to about quarterly.

These inspections are not like walk throughs.
They bring a team of inspectors and they take a week or two.
They look at every physical part of the plant and dig through every freakin' record and log since the last inspection [including training records.] plus some select older records.
Every plant employee has to take a exam [is not a quiz, more like a 2-3 hour knowledge test on your specific job] and a good share have to go through oral boards/interviews.
If someone ahead of you said something stupid in their interview then everyone after gets drilled on that in addition the other questions the inspectors had in-line. If more than two people screw the same thing up with a similar wrong answer they may add more interviews and more inspections to put whatever the issue is under a microscope.
It's not a fun time...

Getting on the 'watch list' is basically scoring low [but not failing] in some area or another.
A fail [which means a fail in any one area including training] means the plant gets shutdown and you get permanent on-site watch-dog inspectors until every thing is corrected AND you pass a later inspection which is more stringent than the one you originally failed.
I've never been at a plant that failed but I've heard the horror stories.

There is always -someone- on that list.
If there wasn't then a significant number of the NRC's staff would not have a job.
Most of the NRC's employees are site inspectors or auditors or managers there of.
If there aren't enough plants in the list to justify their employment the NRC will raise the inspection requirements to get someone else on the list.
[What can I say, it's the Government...]
.

[NxB]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Why would a nuke plant use crappy siemens PLCs. This doesn't mess with ab/rockwell stuff, does it?

[stj]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

you'd think the russians would have there own russian or ex-soviet region origin controllers anyway.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

http://www.siemens.com/about/en/worl...ia_1154669.htm

[willawake]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

In what is described as a joint Israeli-U.S. effort to undermine Iran's nuclear ambitions, the New York Times says tests of the destructive Stuxnet worm occurred at the Israeli nuclear complex in Dimona.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomac...plant-1.337276

The Times said the worm was the most sophisticated cyber-weapon ever deployed and appeared to have been the biggest factor in setting back Iran's nuclear march. Its sources said it caused the centrifuges to spin wildly out of control and that a fifth of them had been wiped out.

lol its kinda mad you could do that with a virus. effectiveness with zero casualty.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Dontcha just love sabotage.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

Here is the full read on this;
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/wo...ewanted=1&_r=1

Quite interesting and if true for sure the most epic cyber warfare that has ever taken place!

[mockingbird]

Re: Stuxnet - malware for nuclear power plants

It was impressive, but ultimately insufficient. They should do a Osirik on Iran.