Cary, there are other options for control systems, indeed. It's speculated that Siemens was chosen for Stuxnet mostly because that is what the Iranians use to control their enrichment facilities. Siemens is very commonly used in various industries beyond power as well, especially outside of the United States. Domestically there is more of a mix of suppliers.
>From what I understand, though Stuxnet is designed to attack Siemens DCS (Distributed Control Systems), the code can be modified to attack other industrial control systems manufacturers, such as Honeywell, Foxboro, Yokogawa, etc. It also can attack PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) which are sort of like a local control computer which handles certain systems or equipment -- as opposed to a DCS which monitors and runs the entire plant. And Ed you are absolutely right -- nothing is truly bulletproof, not in consumer grade stuff and not in industrial either. On Aug 14, 1:54 pm, Cary Preston <[email protected]> wrote: > Run an OS it doesn't target? > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Aug 14, 2012, at 1:45 PM, Luke Jaconetti <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > >http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2012/stuxnet-iranian-view.html > > > We have discussed Stuxnet -- the malware which attacks Siemens PCS7 > > SCADA industrial systems -- on this list before, so I thought this > > paper might be of interest to some members. It's amazing to me that > > even some of the supposedly "bulletproof" antivirus/security systems > > cannot reliably detect Stuxnet. > > > Honestly, something like Stuxnet could very easily be used for real > > world terror applications. It sounds like science fiction -- a > > computer virus which can sabotage the control system at a chemical > > plant, or a pharmaceutical plant, or a nuclear power plant and create > > either seemingly safe products which are actually dangerous, or create > > an unsafe condition which the operators would be unaware of -- but it > > is quite real. > > > I can also tell you that as a controls engineer, there is a very big > > movement in the industry for what is called "cyber security" (as > > opposed to physical plant security) because of malware like this. ISA > > is developing their standard (ISA-99), and there is also the ISO/IEC > > 27002 standard for markets which use IEC. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "The Unique Geek" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en.
