Control system security: whose problem is it?

HACKERS see control systems, with their lack of firewalls and other defences, as relatively soft targets. Utilities across the world are hit by an estimated 100 to 500 hacker attacks and malicious worms every year at each plant, disrupting the ability of companies to control critical manufacturing plants, with potentially devastating consequences. The number of attacks will accelerate sharply as more manufacturers link their plant control systems to the corporate network, the Internet or wireless networks.

An Australian hacker was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2001 after his attack on sewage control computers at a Brisbane council led to the release of one million litres of raw sewage into the grounds of the Hyatt Regency Resort.