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Legacy industrial networks vulnerable to hacking

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CIOL Bureau
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CHICAGO, INDIA: Industrial control networks, that have been used for decades in power plants and distribution grids, oil and gas refineries, chemical plants etc could be older legacy systems that remain highly vulnerable to intelligent remote attacks, as well as non-intelligent viruses, as these systems are no longer isolated from the Internet, says a white paper.

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They are accessible via company websites, wireless access points, USB drives, modems, radio transmission, satellite, microwave, wiretap and remote maintenance access. The report identifies incidents involving major corporations, utilities, nuclear plants and the Pentagon. "The current situation is ripe for an epidemic," says Dirk Seewald, CEO of Innominate Security Technologies, that has published a 2009 White Paper on the weaknesses of industrial systems "Protecting critical infrastructure is itself critical."

In this paper entitled "Hacking the Industrial Network," compiled by an independent consulting firm, there is a detailed mention of numerous vulnerabilities of industrial control networks currently in use throughout the world, as per a news report.

Innominate Security Technologies AG, specializes in the protection of networked industrial systems and the secure remote maintenance of machinery over the Internet.