At Dawn We Sleep

Re:At Dawn We Sleep by prawks on Friday December 07, 2012 @09:51AM (#4887086)

The harsh reality is that such an attack does not require extensive computer skills. Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported on an overseas hacker who gained control of a small Texas water utility using Internet tools available to anyone.

I really dislike statements like this. The latter does certainly not imply the former. There surely wasn't a "Texas Water Utility Taker-downer" published on the Internet. A would-be attacker still needs to understand how to exploit security vulnerabilities. While resources for learning such skills can be found online, it's not as plug-and-play as the Times is portraying it.

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Re:At Dawn We Sleep by JonnieCache on Friday December 07, 2012 @10:02AM (#4887150)

They are almost certainly referring to the use of http://www.shodanhq.com/ to look for SCADA banners.

Try it sometime if you want to gaze upon the gossamer veil twixt normal western life and 28 days later style chaos.

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Re:At Dawn We Sleep by ovi256 on Friday December 07, 2012 @10:48AM (#4887389)

28 days later style chaos: this is what he'll experience when the US gov drops the hammer on him for scanning "strategic" installations right ?

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Re:At Dawn We Sleep by JonnieCache on Friday December 07, 2012 @11:01AM (#4887469)

You dont need to scan them, shodan has done it for you. That's the point.

Eg http://www.shodanhq.com/?q=Rockwell

But yes, as ever, don't do stupid stuff if youre not satisfied with your own safety.

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