(This presentation was given by Eric Byres (Byres Security makes of the Tofino Security Appliance) and Joel Langill (SCADAhacker) during the Siemens 2011 Automation Summit held in Orlando, FL June 27-30.)
The Stuxnet worm is a sophisticated piece of computer malware designed to sabotage industrial. The worm used both known and previously unknown vulnerabilities to install, infect and propagate, and was powerful enough to evade state-of-the-practice security technologies and procedures.
Since the discovery of Stuxnet, there has been extensive analysis of Stuxnet's internal workings. What has not been discussed is how the worm might have migrated from the outside world to supposedly isolated and secure industrial control systems (ICS). Understanding the routes that a directed worm takes as it targets an ICS is critical if these vulnerable pathways are to be closed for future worms.
To help address this knowledge gap, this presentation describes a hypothetical industrial site that follows the high security architecture and best practices. It then shows the ways that the Stuxnet worm could make its way through the defenses of the site to take control of the process and cause physical damage.
It is important to note that the analysis presented in this paper is based on a security model that, though it is accepted in industry as a best practice, is often not implemented in practice. System architectures in the real world are typically much less secure than the one presented in this paper.
The paper closes with a discussion of what can be learned from the analysis of pathways in order to prevent infection from future ICS worms. If the critical infrastructures of the world are to be safe and secure, then the owners and operators need to recognize that their control systems are now the target of sophisticated attacks. Improved defense-in-depth postures for industrial control systems are needed urgently. Waiting for the next worm may be too late.
Presentation
http://www.scadahacker.com/videos/stuxnet-video-howstuxnetspreads.html
Ethical Hacking Basics Class part 1
Yet to provide details about himself
History and Evaluation of Operating System
