TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says

149 pointsby r0mualdabout 9 years ago

11 comments

phreezaabout 9 years ago
Possibly 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 &#x27;cyber&#x27; division in the army with 13500 people working there. Thats almost 10% of our armed forces.<p>I could only find decent reporting about this in german: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tagesspiegel.de&#x2F;politik&#x2F;plaene-der-verteidigungsministerin-ursula-von-der-leyen-will-cyber-armee-mit-13-500-mitarbeitern&#x2F;13503698.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tagesspiegel.de&#x2F;politik&#x2F;plaene-der-verteidigungsm...</a>
评论 #11582558 未加载
评论 #11580185 未加载
评论 #11580362 未加载
评论 #11580723 未加载
评论 #11584564 未加载
elcapitanabout 9 years ago
I found that part much more .. interesting:<p>&gt; 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.
评论 #11579952 未加载
评论 #11580339 未加载
评论 #11580599 未加载
评论 #11582453 未加载
评论 #11579936 未加载
rthomas6about 9 years ago
It&#x27;s more alarming to me that, apparently, critical infrastructure in a nuclear plant is running old versions of Windows.
评论 #11580785 未加载
评论 #11580447 未加载
评论 #11587413 未加载
batmansmkabout 9 years ago
Let&#x27;s just say it&#x27;s not new.<p>Operators mostly watch the plant during the weekend while the engineers are not there. It is a security job: check if something turns red and pick up the phone if it goes bonkers. The operator has a limited access to the core process. Boring, and they get busy by going to the Internet and downloading random stuff. And yes they do have access to the Internet...
评论 #11581016 未加载
Aelinsaarabout 9 years ago
I wonder what scale of disaster will have to occur before information security is placed under the same legal and regulatory scrutiny as physical security?
评论 #11582131 未加载
评论 #11580310 未加载
评论 #11581530 未加载
评论 #11580742 未加载
cm3about 9 years ago
We have to be more concerned about the things that are not reported. And why is it even technically possible to infect the control system of a power plant at all, or was this just a virus in some auxilliary sytem like, say, the machines only connected to another network, totally decoupled from the control system? Without details, this is just fear mongering on the heels of recent media outbreak regarding Belgian reactors.
评论 #11583721 未加载
microcolonelabout 9 years ago
What am I even reading?<p>A <i>nuclear power plant</i> has computers on its airgapped network infected with <i>a computer virus from 8 years ago</i> for <i>an operating system which expired from support two years ago.</i><p>At least the nuclear power plant near me runs on a PDP-11.
knownabout 9 years ago
The head of the BND, the German equivalent of the American CIA, has been booted out of his job on the orders of chancellor Angela Merkel, two years before he was officially due to retire. No reason for the leadership change was disclosed<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;qz.com&#x2F;671383&#x2F;germany-has-sacked-its-spy-chief-but-hasnt-said-why&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;qz.com&#x2F;671383&#x2F;germany-has-sacked-its-spy-chief-but-ha...</a>
onetimePeteabout 9 years ago
Virus claims german nuclear power plant run down by underfunded operators. &quot;Cant spread, if you are all on old breaking down hardware on outdated systems that nobody bothers to update.&quot; says virus.
MelmanGIabout 9 years ago
Mandatory Simpsons quote:<p>Homer: &quot;NUC-U-LAR&quot;! IT&#x27;S PRONOUNCED, &quot;NUC-U-LAR.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;frinkiac.com&#x2F;meme&#x2F;S09E19&#x2F;665197&#x2F;m&#x2F;Ik5VQy1VLUxBUiIhCklUJ1MgUFJPTk9VTkNFRCwgCiJOVUMtVS1MQVIuIg==" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;frinkiac.com&#x2F;meme&#x2F;S09E19&#x2F;665197&#x2F;m&#x2F;Ik5VQy1VLUxBUiIhCk...</a>
jamistevenabout 9 years ago
Stuxnet coming to mind.