The virus, a Trojan used for identity theft, was unwittingly introduced by a technician working for a third party contractor, and kept the power plant offline for three weeks.
"When the IT employee inserted the drive into a computer with up-to-date antivirus software, the antivirus software produced three positive hits," says the DHS's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (ICS-CERT) in a report.
"Initial analysis caused particular concern when one sample was linked to known sophisticated malware."
The malware, it says, was found on two engineering-based workstations that are critical to the control of the power station. Neither workstation had any effective backup, it says.
And ICS-CERT says another unidentified power plant was also hit by a more sophisticated virus, again introduced on a USB stick. The infection, in a turbine control system, affected around ten computers.
"ICS-CERT continues to emphasize that owners and operators of critical infrastructure should develop and implement baseline security policies for maintaining up-to-date antivirus definitions, managing system patching, and governing the use of removable
media," says ICS-CERT.
"When the IT employee inserted the drive into a computer with up-to-date antivirus software, the antivirus software produced three positive hits," says the DHS's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (ICS-CERT) in a report.
"Initial analysis caused particular concern when one sample was linked to known sophisticated malware."
The malware, it says, was found on two engineering-based workstations that are critical to the control of the power station. Neither workstation had any effective backup, it says.
And ICS-CERT says another unidentified power plant was also hit by a more sophisticated virus, again introduced on a USB stick. The infection, in a turbine control system, affected around ten computers.
"ICS-CERT continues to emphasize that owners and operators of critical infrastructure should develop and implement baseline security policies for maintaining up-to-date antivirus definitions, managing system patching, and governing the use of removable
media," says ICS-CERT.
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