Tag: critical infrastructure

Cyber Attacks / Cyber Breach / Cybersecurity

Federal Cybersecurity Problems “Decades in the Making”

Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee received testimony from federal officials regarding the April 2015 cyberattack on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which compromised the personal information of approximately 4 million government employees and retirees, including social security numbers.  The executive branch delayed reporting the incident until June 4, much to the dismay of the House Committee. OPM head Catherine Archuleta was under fire for what Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, called the “most devastating” cyberattack in United States’ history.  Ms. Archuleta attempted to avoid… Continue Reading
Cyber Attacks / Cybersecurity

Hacker Gains Control of German Steel Mill Operations

The  German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has issued a report revealing that a sophisticated hacker was able to take control of a steel mill’s computerized production system, forcing an unscheduled shut-down that caused “massive damage” to the physical plant. By using targeted emails, known as “spear phishing,” employees were tricked into opening messages that extracted login names and passwords and transmitted that information to the hacker without detection. The hacker, in turn, used the data to gain limited control of the… Continue Reading