Re:US passes emergency waiver over fuel pipeline cyber-attack
by sebmellen on Sunday May 09, 2021 @10:31PM
(#27102094)
Thanks for the response. It's amazing to have a community where "subject-matter experts" like yourself just pop up.
I'm quite surprised and comforted to hear that the leadership there is competent and knows how to manage people. I've heard from friends/acquaintances who have worked in the energy industry about how terribly things are put together on an IT front (PG&E being a prime culprit), so I was expecting the same here.
I really like your "data-diodes" concept. Interested to see if such a thing takes off especially as these attacks evolve.
Re:US passes emergency waiver over fuel pipeline cyber-attack
by WalterBright on Sunday May 09, 2021 @10:28PM
(#27102078)
That's why physical write-enable switches are a must for ROMs. If it's "off", the malware won't survive a reboot.
That said, determining whether or not a system was compromised can be incredibly difficult. I'm sure they'll face massive pressure to turn the pipeline back on as it does supply almost half of the east coast with oil. I wouldn't want to be the person who has to make that call when it's impossible to prove a negative.
CPC had two explosions a few years back which caused gasoline shortages in new england, that may provide indication of the scale of disruption to expect.