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by anglebracket 3799 days ago
> Often there is no need to install updates at all on machines [...] like HVAC and SCADA systems

Which, incidentally, have been the target of a lot of recent high-profile attacks.[0][1][2][3]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duqu#Purpose

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet#PLC_infection

[2] http://www.computerworld.com/article/2475789/cybercrime-hack...

[3] http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/02/target-hackers-broke-in-v...

2 comments

I'm aware.

We do regular security audits from a security firm who goes the extra mile to try and social engineer and gain physical access to all of our sites.

Plus we're talking about things like processing fish in a town of 2,000 people. If I was operating a nuclear reactor, I would surely adapt better security measures.. although against government sponsored attacks using undocumented vulnerabilities, windows update isn't really going to do much.

The Target thing you posted has to do with internet access, which is something that goes against what I was saying. I'm talking about closed, physically secure networks, possibly not even using tcp/ip or ethernet.

Your quote omits the critical "that only talk to hardware and not the internet". Your examples 3 and 4 are doing it wrong.

Stuxnet-like attacks can go after non-networked equipment, but they're based on exploiting the computer with the programming suite, not the industrial system itself.

That's fair. My point was that in reality, a ton of people end up doing it wrong in some way or another. You should cover your bases and keep your systems up to date with security patches regardless of how segregated you believe they are.