Thousands of US-Based Companies Warned to Increase Protection of Computers Used in Conjunction with Power Plants, Utilities

By

Thousands of U.S.-based companies have been cautioned to reinforce their protection of computers that manage such sensitive facilities as utilities or power plants.

The warning by the U.S.-government came after over 500,000 “potential targets” were listed because they are found on publically available online information, the BBC said.

From the list of 500,000, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security narrowed the most pressing computers to a list of 7,200 possible targets, news reports said.

These are connected to Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) computers, which are used in power plants, water treatment technology, traffic controls and utilities, the BBC added.

The identification was made by Bob Radvanovsky and Jacob Brodsky of InfraCritical. The two spent some nine months coming up with their list.

Many of those on the list “contain online login interfaces with little more than a default password standing between an attacker and potential havoc,” according to a report from ThreatPost.com.

“The biggest thing is we are trying to assign a number – a rough magnitude – to a problem plaguing the industry for some time now,” Radvanovsky said in the ThreatPost blog post. “Until you identify the scope of a problem, no one takes steps to change things. We’re doing it on a beer budget; we hope others confirm our results.”

The two are concerned about the false confidence associated with many IT staff overseeing the vulnerable computers.

“They’ll presume a particular protocol is not well known,” Brodsky said. “These guys think no one will figure it out, but actually, there’s a lot of residual information available where you could figure it out. They’re not as secure as they think they are. That’s why this stuff is naked out there on the Internet. A lot of people believe there is some safety in obscurity. I don’t think they’re right.”

Recently, there was a related attack on the Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia. It led to malware destroying data on some 30,000 computers. It reportedly took about a few weeks to restore the main internal network services that were affected by a virus, TechZone360 reported.




Edited by Braden Becker
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]

TechZone360 Contributor

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Lessons Learned from Enterprise Oracle Cloud Migrations

By: Contributing Writer    7/1/2025

Switching to Oracle Cloud can feel daunting. Security risks, unexpected expenses, and performance troubles often turn what seems like an effortless up…

Read More

Protecting Business Assets with Smarter Security Frameworks

By: Contributing Writer    7/1/2025

Protecting your business is more challenging than ever. Cyber threats are increasing every day. Hackers target small and large businesses alike, searc…

Read More

Emerging Trends in Technology and Their Impact on Future Innovations

By: Contributing Writer    7/1/2025

Technology is changing faster than ever. Business owners often struggle to keep up. What's trending today might be outdated tomorrow. Falling behind c…

Read More

Tech Podcast Award Winners Bring Excitement and Enthusiasm to a Range of Important Tech Topics

By: TMCnet Staff    6/18/2025

Tech Podcast Award winners produce engaging, informative, and often entertaining content, bringing valuable insight from industry front lines to the e…

Read More

How Mobile Technology is Driving the Shift to Casino Apps

By: Contributing Writer    6/12/2025

Recent years have seen casino apps completely changing the online casino experience. Thanks to mobile-first technology, apps are becoming the default.…

Read More