April 11, 2008

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS IDIOCY?

Why the fuck are power grid control computers attached to the Internet?

There should be a physical, brick, steel, admantium, whatever, wall between the computer equipment that controls the power stations controls and the rest of the world. These people hacked into this equipment by taking over people's Internet-browser-capable workstations.

HOW? What idiot designed the security at that power plant?

Let's just say that remote control capability is necessary to perform the duties of the controllers at this plant. That remote control should only be possible from an authenticated, otherwise unattached terminal from an equally secure location. The remote control terminal does not need to be able to access YouTube.Com.

The state of computer security in this country is horrendous. I don't know how the hell the person responsible for this idiocy still has a job. It's just completely unbelievable.

1 comment:

Matthew said...

Computer security is all about prompting users for passwords every ten minutes, not about securing infrastructure that is out of sight of everyone.