If These Networks Get Hacked, Beware

"SAME VULNERABILITIES." Increasingly, however, the software used to control operational networks has migrated to Windows-based PCs that use a graphical interface any teenager can fathom. And many agencies have enabled remote access over the Internet to operational systems. That improves their ease of use, but at a cost, says William Miller, president of Maximum Control Technologies, an integrator of industrial control systems. "Now they have the same vulnerabilities as a Web server on the Internet. At some of my customers' sites, I can't separate the real-time control systems from the desktop systems."

businessweek.com...

Interesting article on computer vulnerability of critical systems.

Well the business wants the easy access via the internet into key areas, then it opens itself up to attacks via the internet. I had a buddy who ran a small electronics company and he solved the security issue very simply. All the systems he used for production were on seperate systems than his web site. There was no way for a hacker to get into his production systems. From the article "Critical systems that control the trains sit on a different network that remains physically unconnected from BART's other systems". If you don't have a physical connection, then you cannot get "hacked" from some outside source.

jag,

you are so right,

in the end the only protection you have is physical separation.

anything else is ultimately vulnerable to some form of attack via software manipulation.

Of course your electrical system has to be completely separate too to avoid sabotage.

Just unplug your cable modem (if you use it) when you are finished on ur comp




Problem solved