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A security researcher is showing that it’s not hard to hold industrial control systems for ransom. He's experimented with a simulated water treatment system based on actual programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and documented how these can be hacked.
David Formby, a PhD student at Georgia Institute of Technology, conducted his experiment to warn the industry about the danger of poorly secured PLCs. These small dedicated computers can be used to control important factory processes or utilities, but are sometimes connected to the internet.
For instance, Formby found that 1,500 of these industrial PLCs are accessible online, he said while speaking at the RSA cybersecurity conference on Monday. It's not hard to imagine a hacker trying to exploit these exposed PLCs, he added. Cybercriminals have been infecting businesses across the world with ransomware, a form of malware that can hold data hostage in exchange for bitcoin.
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