Dark Reading is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Database Security
Authentication
Mobile
Privacy
Compliance
Identity & Access Management
Security Monitoring
Advanced Threats
Insider Threats
Vulnerability Management
Comments
What IT Can Teach Utilities About Cybersecurity & Smart Grids
Newest First  |  Oldest First  |  Threaded View
Page 1 / 2   >   >>
honey143
50%
50%
honey143,
 User Rank: Apprentice
5/26/2016 | 3:36:15 AM
greetings!!
Great post awesome info 
RodneyH403
50%
50%
RodneyH403,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/10/2013 | 6:39:22 PM
RBAC part of the solution
When it comes to default passwords, the asset owners need to pay more attention to specifying requirements for Role Based Access Control using Standards such as IEEE 1686.

As far as Ruggedcom is concerened I believe that default password cyber security issues were addressed quite some time ago (12 months + ?) which seems to be a responsible approach.  Not sure what benefit there is in raising an old resolved issue against a select vendor - FUD??

Once decent RBAC is implemeneted by the asset owner, it is then about how do they manage that access to the devices with large numbers of users and large numbers of devices so solutions like the Siemens Ruggedcom Crossbow system comes into play controlling and recording all activity.
Marilyn Cohodas
50%
50%
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/6/2013 | 1:53:18 PM
Re: IoT & Smart Grids
Kristopher Ardis, executive director of Energy Solutions for Maxim Integrated, offers some additional perspective in a recent article in SmartGrid News, Smart grid, the Internet of Things and Security, an inside look . Focusing on the similarities between smart grids and IoT, Ardis says smart grid deployments offer several reasons why "security must be designed in from the start" of any IoT deployment, among them:
  • A multitude of remote, distributed sensors and control devices are deployed Iin IoT where they will not be supervised. Unlike an ATM with a security camera nearby, there is no oversight on a smart meter. This makes it easy for an attacker to acquire devices for study.
  • There are risks with machine-to-machine communication. When devices are communicating with each other with little human interaction, tampering may be difficult to detect until something catastrophic happens.


Interesting analogy and food for thought! Anyone agree or disagree?

 

 

 

davidjwilson@rogers.com
50%
50%
[email protected],
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/6/2013 | 12:19:51 AM
Re: Win 95
Why is Windows ANYTHING running these systems???
ChrisMurphy
50%
50%
ChrisMurphy,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/4/2013 | 2:00:03 PM
Win 95
I'm not shocked to hear utilities using Windows 95 in critical grid machinery. I was discussing Internet of things strategy with a manufacturing CIO, and he said this is one thing that holds them back -- they have Windows versions much older than 95 running machines, and they don't dare put those on a network.
Marilyn Cohodas
50%
50%
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/3/2013 | 9:19:13 AM
Re: A frightening thought!
Totally agree, Stratusician, that these power grid vulnerabilities are really scary. One of the most frightening revelations in the article was that Windows 95 machines still run many critical systems.
Stratustician
50%
50%
Stratustician,
 User Rank: Moderator
12/2/2013 | 7:35:59 PM
A frightening thought!
What a great wake-up call to one of the lesser known, yet potentially more critical, threats due to the age of cloud and internet.  As the Internet of Things and the push to connect infrastructure to the cloud increases, it's frightening to think of the risk of devastation it brings.  In the worst case, when you consider electronic warfare, these systems could have devastating outcomes.  After all, to think that all nuclear missle launch codes were set to 00000 for the longest time, and the weakness of password security, this is truly a recipe for disaster.  Unfortunately, only a forced revamp of security controls for these systems will help reduce the risks from these threats.
Bswarthout49
50%
50%
Bswarthout49,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/27/2013 | 3:37:10 PM
External Threats
I found this to be a very insightful article and there is a lot to take away from it. It seems more and more utilities are moving to offline air gaped enviornments to avoid any interaction with the oustide world. Still, the question remains, how do you validate the integrity of files that would enter such a utility via USB from a contractor/vendor/employee, etc?

I would encourage you to read how OPSWAT Security Applications allow you to design security controls which dictate which and what kinds of media and file types are allowed into critical infrastrucute.
Chuck Brooks
50%
50%
Chuck Brooks,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/27/2013 | 10:36:54 AM
Cybersecurity/smartgrids
Thanks Robert for an excellent article. Our utilities and smart grids are indeed vulnerable and are under attacked more than we are aware. Thankfully, DHS, NIST, and the not-for-profit Council on Cybersecurity have identified this issue of critical infrastrucutre protection as an urgent priority.
Susan Fogarty
50%
50%
Susan Fogarty,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/27/2013 | 9:22:29 AM
Re: Another security threat to keep us up at night
Marilyn, I agree. This is one of those topics that I am surprised doesn't get more attention. Especially now that energy companies are using remote monitoring to measure customer consumption, their networks have become very dispersed. Bob, do you see utilities making moves to hire more people with IT and security backgrounds to help beef up their security postures?
Page 1 / 2   >   >>


Mobile Banking Malware Up 50% in First Half of 2019
Kelly Sheridan, Staff Editor, Dark Reading,  1/17/2020
7 Tips for Infosec Pros Considering A Lateral Career Move
Kelly Sheridan, Staff Editor, Dark Reading,  1/21/2020
For Mismanaged SOCs, The Price Is Not Right
Kelly Sheridan, Staff Editor, Dark Reading,  1/22/2020
Register for Dark Reading Newsletters
White Papers
Video
Cartoon Contest
Write a Caption, Win a Starbucks Card! Click Here
Latest Comment: I've never actually seen the corporate ladder before.
Current Issue
The Year in Security: 2019
This Tech Digest provides a wrap up and overview of the year's top cybersecurity news stories. It was a year of new twists on old threats, with fears of another WannaCry-type worm and of a possible botnet army of Wi-Fi routers. But 2019 also underscored the risk of firmware and trusted security tools harboring dangerous holes that cybercriminals and nation-state hackers could readily abuse. Read more.
Flash Poll
How Enterprises are Attacking the Cybersecurity Problem
How Enterprises are Attacking the Cybersecurity Problem
Organizations have invested in a sweeping array of security technologies to address challenges associated with the growing number of cybersecurity attacks. However, the complexity involved in managing these technologies is emerging as a major problem. Read this report to find out what your peers biggest security challenges are and the technologies they are using to address them.
Twitter Feed
Dark Reading - Bug Report
Bug Report
Enterprise Vulnerabilities
From DHS/US-CERT's National Vulnerability Database
CVE-2019-18898
PUBLISHED: 2020-01-23
UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following vulnerability in the trousers package of SUSE SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1; openSUSE Factory allowed local attackers escalate privileges from user tss to root. This issue affects: SUSE SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 trousers versions prior to 0.3.14...
CVE-2019-19837
PUBLISHED: 2020-01-23
Incorrect access control in the web interface in Ruckus Wireless Unleashed through 200.7.10.102.64 allows remote information disclosure of bin/web.conf via HTTP requests.
CVE-2020-7210
PUBLISHED: 2020-01-23
Umbraco CMS 8.2.2 allows CSRF to enable/disable or delete user accounts.
CVE-2019-19835
PUBLISHED: 2020-01-23
SSRF in AjaxRestrictedCmdStat in zap in Ruckus Wireless Unleashed through 200.7.10.102.64 allows a remote denial of service via the server attribute to the tools/_rcmdstat.jsp URI.
CVE-2020-5216
PUBLISHED: 2020-01-23
In Secure Headers (RubyGem secure_headers), a directive injection vulnerability is present in versions before 3.9.0, 5.2.0, and 6.3.0. If user-supplied input was passed into append/override_content_security_policy_directives, a newline could be injected leading to limited header injection. Upon seei...