Hackers Damage German Steel Plant

Recently, hackers have caused serious damage to a German steel plant and also shut down one of the blast furnaces at a steel plant.

According to an annual report by the German Federal Information Security Administration, after an employee at a steel mill received an email, hackers swept over the management of the production network and took control of the factory's production systems.

As a result of this break-in, the blast furnace can be closed. According to the report, the attackers displayed significant knowledge of IT security and management applications, as well as an awareness of the steel industry.

The federal government said the hackers pose a technological threat to industrial enterprises, and their whereabouts are still unknown. The attack demonstrated to management that the steel mill had not made enough efforts to decouple the external network from its production networks.

Hackers often attack industrial control systems, but such hacks rarely cause physical damage. Finnish representatives of F-Secure said in June this year that remote access can influence the production management of the industry. Also last year, Kyle Weehoit, a researcher at Trend Micro, proved that SCADA software enabled hackers to infiltrate industrial systems that were considered highly advanced.