Threat actors nowadays are infecting far more devices outside the usual scope of conventional IT systems. Powerful botnets could enable attackers to unleash cyberattacks that impact human life in a way only a calamity of nature could.
Researchers have recently discovered that threat actors employ ingenious schemes to target industrial systems. In one such scheme, attackers advertised software cracking tool for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI).
The expectation was that engineers would download the software and try to recover a lost password. However, once executed, the malware – dubbed “Sality” – would infect the system and turn it into a bot for its operators to use as they please.
Similar attacks against computers occur often, but the operators behind Sality specifically focused on industrial systems. Brian Contos, CSO of Phosphorus Cybersecurity, thinks we will see many more attacks targeting internet-connected devices outside traditional IT systems.
"If somebody were to take down the electric grid, that would impact everything. Probably within three to six weeks, you see major rioting and looting,"
“If somebody wants to rent out a botnet, it doesn’t matter if it’s made of laptops and servers, or cameras and printers. The only important thing is that it has an IP address, internet connection, and it can do what the attacker wants it to,” Contos told Cybernews.
We sat down to discuss what kind of botnets we are likely to see in...
Read Full Story: https://cybernews.com/security/nightmare-cyberattack-is-comparable-to-a-natural-disaster-interview/
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