Black Hat and Defcon to focus on critical infrastructure
Hacker conferences Black Hat and Defcon will cover threats to industrial systems, transportation, and the electrical grid
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The annual Black Hat Briefings and Defcon security conferences will kick off in Las Vegas next week, and the security (or lack of it) for critical infrastructure -- such as systems that control public utilities and other vital systems -- will likely make headlines in the days that follow.
The focus on critical infrastructure consolidates a trend that has been evident in recent years. In just the last week, researchers warned about a worm that targets industrial control systems from Siemens.
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Recognizing the shift in focus to critical infrastructure within the cyber underground, Black Hat 2010 will feature an entire track on infrastructure, with presentations on hacking electrical "smart" meter deployments (a fixture at last year's Black Hat Briefings) as well as talks on the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Industrial Control System (ICS).
The U.S. Government's Accountability Office (GAO) has been warning for years that the systems used to operate the nation's critical infrastructure, including its electric grid, were vulnerable to both physical and cyber attack. Despite these warnings, a recent update from GAO, while citing progress, noted that "thousands of facilities" in the country -- if destroyed by a national or man-made disaster -- could cause "casualties, economic losses, or threaten national security."
